Hero
by Sideways Jill
Summary: He's content with watching her laugh with her friends, with being near her in class. But after she escapes with Sirius Black to help him survive, just watching isn't good enough any more. What will he do to get her back? Remus/OC. PoA. Review, please!
1. Chapter 1

**My very first Harry Potter story! Well, that I've posted, anyway...  
Boring beginning, I know, bare with me. Right now we're just setting up the characters and getting to know them, and I promise after this (if anyone shows interest) we will actually get down to a story. I only did one other character/OC story once, and it got zero reviews, so I'm kind of nervous to do this. Please, let me know if you'd like to see more, or if you absolutely hate it, or... Any other opinion. But do it nicely. And I know Roman is generally a man's name. I know that. You don't have to tell me. Thank you so much for even reading this far, and first person to review gets a shoutout. And maybe the second. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Hint: Reviews put me in a good mood. PS, EXTREMELY OC REMUS ATTITUDE HERE! I MEAN LIKE, HIS OPINION ON BEING WITH SOMEONE YOUNGER. ABSOLUTELY NO TONKS HERE!  
Enjoy!**

Something hit Roman in the back of the head and she rolled her eyes, still facing forward, listening to Professor Lupin talk about kappas. She was tapping her foot on the floor, ignoring the usual whispering from the boy behind her, Jason Peters.

She sighed, grumbling angrily, trying to hear what Lupin was saying- she knew the lesson was important, as the contents of the lesson were NEWT-level- but Jason wouldn't stop irritating her. Lupin, who had been leaning on his desk with his palms braced behind him, turned his back to dig in his desk drawer for something. Roman took this opportunity to turn around and growl, "Jason, so help me God, if you don't stop throwing bits of parchment at me I will break my foot in your face!"

Roman had thought she was whispering, but, judging by the loud, ringing laughter, everyone had heard what she said. Jason, who had been grinning at her, suddenly frowned and she turned around in her seat, glad she had set him straight. She looked up- a shadow had just been cast over her desk- and saw Professor Lupin, smiling lightly down at her. "Everything okay?" he asked, and Roman was relieved to hear that he didn't sound angry. She nodded solemnly, sticking the tip of her Sugar Quill in her mouth. "Peachy, Professor," she said, and he looked over her head to Jason, and then back to her.

Jason said, although he didn't really sound confident, "She wouldn't."

Roman shrugged, and looked Lupin straight in the eye. "He's got to sleep sometime," she said simply. Lupin smiled down at her and moved to the front of the class, continuing his lesson on kappas as though there had never been an interruption.

Jason did not bother Roman for the rest of the lesson, so her notes increased in quality. Then, when Lupin dismissed the class, Roman shoved her things in her bag and stood up. The other girls in the class went to great lengths to make themselves look extremely pretty just for school, but Roman didn't feel the need. She had tied her hair in a tight bun directly on top of her head with a scarlet and gold Gryffindor tie, so that strips of it showed through her dark brown hair. She wore her regular white Oxford shirt and black skirt, with tights underneath because she didn't like the possibility of someone seeing up her skirt. Roman wore no makeup. She didn't need it.

As she started for the door, her best friend, Belle, yelled from behind her in a singsong voice, "Ramona! Ramona Whitney Michaels!" Roman rolled her eyes and spun on her heel, glaring.

Nobody in this entire school called her Ramona. It was the stupid name her mother had given her and she hated it. She thought, however masculine the name was, that Roman was better, so that was what everyone referred to her as. She actually liked that name, so that's who she was. Roman Michaels.

Roman and Belle were the only two students left in the room now, and they had a free period next, so they took their time getting out of there. Lupin was watching with interest.

"_Don't call me Ramona_," Roman said, glaring at Belle, a short girl with short blonde hair and short arms. She beamed up at her and skipped out of the door. No one could figure out why they were friends. Belle was short and girly and extremely shy; Roman was tall and strong and wanted to be famous. She was Muggle-born, so she hoped that even after getting her education at Hogwarts, she would be an actress in the Muggle world. Lupin smiled minutely at Roman's retreating form and gathered the papers up on his desk, sighing.

* * *

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"No."

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"No."

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"No."

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"No."

Roman, a book for her Transfiguration class open in her lap, forked another bite of peach cobbler in her mouth, looking straight down at her book. Oliver Wood, Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, went through the same routine every time they were in the same room, and every time Roman said no.

"Please, Roman," he said, clasping his hands, in Quidditch gloves, together, "I'm leaving next year, and I want to know that I'm leaving someone good on the team behind."

"What about Harry Potter?" Roman asked tonelessly, without looking up at him.

"That's only one person."

"And the Weasley twins?"

Oliver sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need someone good to play Chaser. What if something happens to one of the girls?"

Roman snorted. "What if? _If _something happens, I _may _take a position. Until then, I am an actress."

Oliver sighed and looked up at her, half amused and half annoyed. "I'm not going to get you to join today, am I?" he asked, smiling crookedly at her. "Have you yet?" she asked, finally looking up at him. He pursed his lips and shook his head. "Let me know if you change your mind."

"I'll be sure to do that," Roman replied, turning another page. Oliver stood up and walked over to join his friends, shaking his head.

"Are you worried about Sirius Black?" Belle asked Roman quietly, and Roman shook her head. "No," she said simply. Belle quirked an eyebrow, looking over at her. "Are you acting?" she asked, and Roman shook her head again. Belle threw her hands up in exasperation. "How do I know if that's not acting?"

"I guess you don't, huh?"

Belle yelled in frustration, "I don't even know why we're friends!"

* * *

Roman rubbed her temples, trying to curb her headache before it began. She had three essays to finish before her classes that day. She only had to do the conclusions on the lot of them, but she found that to be the hardest part. For some reason, Snape wanted two scrolls on werewolves and she was only one scroll in, and all that was left was a conclusion.

Belle was scratching slowly at her parchment, trying to fit a sentence at the very bottom of her scroll. Of the friendship, Belle had the brains. Roman was smart, very smart, actually, but Belle was a genius. The bell rang and Roman reluctantly stood up, stuffing her papers in her bag. She had Potions first, then DADA, the CoMC. She hoped Hagrid, who she rather liked as a professor, wouldn't mind if she hadn't been able to finish the last paragraph of the first essay he'd ever assigned.

Belle, Roman's closest friend, had Transfiguration at the same time that Roman had Potions, so they walked in opposite directions after loud goodbyes. Roman waved to a few people in the hallway after they waved back, and ducked behind a rather tall boy when Justin Peters, who had the biggest crush on Roman, walked by. Finally Roman reached the Potions classroom and slowly unpacked her things, not looking forward to the next hour.

Roman's Potions partner, Lionel Moore, seated himself next to her shortly after she walked in, and they worked together on their Shrinking Solution without issue. Lionel had always been very polite to Roman, so she tried to avoid being sarcastic around him. She didn't think he understood it anyway.

Snape dismissed the class and Roman made the walk back to Professor Lupin's classroom, and then found she was the only one in there. She stopped in confusion and then twirled around to face the doorway. Lupin smiled up at her from his desk.

"Why am I the only one in here?" she asked, moving to the desk she shared with, again, Lionel Moore. Lupin replied, "I suppose you're just early. Is my class that fascinating?" he joked.

Roman nodded, put her book on the desk, and then reached up to tighten the bun on her head with the Gryffindor tie. Holding a bobby pin in her teeth, she said, "Yeah, actually. It's my favorite. At least we've got a good teacher this year," she snorted. Lupin beamed even wider. "You think I'm a good teacher?" he asked.

"Better than that stupid Lockhart," she said, plopping herself down in the desk. "What're we doing today, teach?" she asked. He shrugged. "No idea, actually, _Ramona_."

Roman gasped as he grinned at her and she held up a hand. "Woah, woah, woah, _woah_," she said, and he laughed. "Who told you that was my name?" He shrugged again. "I heard Belle yesterday."

"You were listening in on my conversation, Professor? I'm ashamed."

"You weren't exactly doing much to hide it," he snorted.

"Still, that was supposed to be private."

"I think it's a nice name," he said, and looked down.

Roman pretended not to notice that he was blushing, and she said, "I hate it. _Ramona_," she spat in distaste, wrinkling up her nose. "Ugh."

Just then Jason Peters sat down behind Roman and held something over her shoulder, stealing the attention away from Lupin. He politely averted his eyes and returned to his desk, gathering up more papers. "I got this for you, Roman," he said, and she took it from him. It was a Sugar Quill. Her favorite thing from Honeydukes.

"How did you know I love these?" Roman asked, 'forgetting' to say thank-you. Even though he wasn't watching, Lupin was listening to them talk. Jason shrugged, leaning forward in his chair so that his face was closer to hers. "I pay attention," he said. Roman frowned. "Well, thank you," she said, still sounding rather suspicious. He beamed at her, and Lionel sat down. He had short blond hair and a stern kind of face; he was just the kind of person Roman could imagine being Head Boy, except he wasn't overly-pompous like their current Head Boy, Percy Weasley.

"Hello, Roman," he said, and Roman smiled back, sucking on her Sugar Quill. "Wotcher, Lionel," she said. Lionel dug around in his bag for a moment, and then emerged with a piece of parchment full of neat, bold writing.

"I wonder if you could check this over for me, Roman?" he asked, holding it out for her. Lionel, Roman thought, was probably the most helpful person she knew. They sat together in almost every class, as the students were usually seated in alphabetical order, and he never complained about helping her when she didn't understand something, which was more often than she would have liked to admit, and almost never asked for help. "I think some of the spelling in the first half is wrong, and I know Snape'll take off points for that," he confessed. Roman nodded, replaced her Sugar Quill with a real one, and took the essay. She could feel Jason glaring at the both of them from behind them.

Slowly the other students started to file in, apparently all late at the same time, and seated themselves, but the bell hadn't rung yet, so they chatted with each other. Lionel leaned a little closer to watch while Roman fixed the very sparce spelling errors in his essay. "Oh," Roman said, just to say something, "I must've spelled this wrong only about a hundred times." He smiled at her and she handed the essay back. "Thank you very much," he said, and she nodded, turning back to face forward in her seat. Just as she was about to open her book, he stuck something under her nose.

"What-?" she asked, taking the flower from him. She gave him a questioning look and he smiled placidly up at her and said, "For helping me." With one nod, he faced forward in his seat and acted as though he had never even given her the rose. "Thank- thank you," she mumbled weakly, and carefully put it in her bag. She heard Jason sputter indignantly behind her.

Jason spent the rest of the class, once it had started, trying to get Roman's attention and grumbling at Lionel, who was as faithful as ever in helping Roman with her work. Professor Lupin was his normal cheery yet informative self, always helping students who didn't know the answers. At the end of the class Roman packed up her things after handing in her essay, planning on making a trip to the library, as it was her free period, but Lupin said, draping his sweater over the back of his chair, "Roman, could I have a word?"

Bag slung over her shoulder, Roman stopped in the doorway and turned around. "Yes?" she asked, and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Is Jason bothering you? You seem distracted." he asked, rather suddenly, and Roman rolled her eyes.

"Well, he is kind of obsessed with me, and it does get annoying, but it's nothing I can't handle. Why?"

He smirked at her and handed her a scroll, which she took and unrolled. "I believe that's your Potions homework?" he said lightly, and she gasped, fumbling around in her bag. "Oh, sorry, here's the right one."

She put the Potions scroll back in her bag and handed him the right one, which he took and put in his desk drawer. She stood there, staring up at him with wide eyes, waiting to see if he needed anything else. He stared back down at her, head cocked to the side, and finally asked again, "Are you sure Jason isn't bothering you?"

Roman adjusted the strap of her bag and nodded, saying, "Yeah... He's just... Obvious, you know?" He didn't say anything as she continued. "If someone likes me," she said, and his eyes widened a fraction, "I would rather they go about it in a subtle way, instead of making a fool of themselves, you know? Less is more... When you're not me." She smiled. He nodded carefully, remembering that.

Roman pushed herself up on her toes and then fell back down, and with a short wave turned on her heel. "I'm going to the library," she said, and he smiled and nodded. "See you, Roman," he said quietly, and she waved over her shoulder.

**Alright, so what did you think? Boring? Awful? Maybe some nice words? I'm just trying to get Roman's attitude out, and Belle's, and I'm trying to throw in the fact that Remus likes her but knows he shouldn.t And in case you were wondering, Roman and Belle (and I'm not positive if it's canon but Oliver is, as well) are in their sixth year.**

**Reviews would be the best way to get more chapters, as I've already got a lot (about ten chapters) of this written, so please, review. Tell me what you liked, what you didn't, what you ate for breakfast, I don't care. Just some feedback. Thanks you! And like I said, first reviewer gets a shoutout!**

**Stay fabulous!**

**~Paige**


	2. Chapter 2

**Shoutout to **lbjw0128** for being my first (and only) reviewer! Thanks! **

* * *

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"Oliver-"

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"Hey, wait-"

"Please join the Quidditch team."

"I WILL RIP YOUR ARM OFF AND BEAT YOU WITH THE BLOODY END!" Roman screamed, and even the teachers at the High table turned to look, Dumbledore with his eyes twinkling. Lupin smiled at her.

Oliver sat back and said quietly, "I'll take that as a no?"

"You can take that as a _hell _no."

Oliver sighed again and Roman took this opportunity to ask, "What if I did plan on joining the team? Who would I replace? Did you ever think about the fact that you'd have to kick someone else off to make room for me?"

Oliver went a bit dumb at this, and shook his head. "No," he said quietly, turning away. But then he rebounded and said, straddling the bench next to her, "I just want to make sure the team will survive once I leave!"

Roman sighed and flipped a page in the book she always kept open at her lunchtimes. Belle interjected from across Roman, something she usually didn't do as she was mortally afraid of speaking with people she didn't know personally (unless it was to embarass Roman, then she would scream at anyone), "She can't even play Quidditch. Have you seen her on a broom?"

"Hey," Roman said in surprise and mild indignation. Oliver smiled at Belle and nudged her from across the table. Her cheeks went pink, contrasting rather nicely with her blonde hair. "What about you, Belle? Do you play Quidditch, 'cause you sure are a keeper." He smiled, thinking this was quite clever.

Belle stared over at Roman, who had just taken a long pull from her goblet of pumpkin juice, and tried to keep her lips from quivering. Roman, who was unable to swallow her pumpkin juice around the laughter forming in her throat, stared, wide-eyed, back.

"No, you did not just say that!" a girl from a few seats down said to Oliver, who was frowning now, and Belle bursted out laughing, and Roman spit her pumpkin juice everywhere then rocked backward in laughter. Oliver looked mad now, but Belle stretched out a short arm and patted his shoulder. "Ohmygod," she wheezed, looking away so she wouldn't laugh directly in his face. He sat there, frowning, waiting for her to pull herself together, and when she did, she choked, "That- that was so cute- Oliver!"

Grumbling, he gathered up his things and walked away, looking thoroughly dejected.

Roman, who was still rocking back and forth on the bench, wiped her chin with a napkin and then moved down her shirt, trying to get the orange out of the white fabric. Finally, when most of her was dry, she laid her head down on her folded arms, still shaking with laughter.

"I wonder where he heard that," Roman sighed, wiping the tears off her cheeks. Belle, having gotten over her laughing fit, shrugged and said, "Oh, maybe _Witch Weekly_."

This sent Roman into hysterics again; she flung her arms out and thudded her forehead off the wooden table while Belle watched in amusement. Only when Roman, clutching her stomach, sat up did she see that she had knocked a goblet full of pumpkin juice all over her DADA essay.

"Oh, no!" she yelled, and Belle scrunched up her nose. "Yikes," she said.

"I worked all night on this!" Roman cried, holding up the soaking wet parchment. Belle shrugged and said, "It doesn't matter. Lupin loves you."

Roman looked over her, frowning. "What?" she asked, trying to blot the orange liquid away from the already-smeared words. Belle bit down on her spoon and licked it off, shrugging again. "You're, like, his favorite student. He won't be mad."

"How do you figure I'm his favorite?" Roman asked, more focused on blotting her essay than what Belle was saying. She laughed once and then said, "Because he's watching you right now. It's kinda cute, I think."

Roman looked up at the High table, and sure enough, there was Lupin watching her from the corner of his eye, cheeks the same red they had been when he'd complimented her name. Roman, stomach suddenly tight though she didn't know why, shrugged and quickly looked away. "So? He was probably just wondering what the dying-hippogriff sound was."

"Mmm," Belle said, like she didn't believe her.

* * *

"Professor," Roman said, dashing into Lupin's classroom before anyone else could claim his attention, "Oliver used a really stupid pick-up line on Belle at lunch and I was laughing really hard and I think some girl named Lavender goes, 'Oh, no, he didn't!' and then Belle was all like, 'Maybe he got that from _Witch Weekly_,' you know, that stupid magazine Lockhart was in? And then I started laughing again and I spilled my juice and... and.. yeah." She laid the soggy parchment on his desk and he looked down at her, wide-eyed.

"So... So Oliver used the pick-up line on... on Lavender?" he asked quietly, and after a moment of staring hard at him she was clutching the edge of the desk, trying to support herself. "Oh, wow, today has been a great day," Roman sighed after she straightened up again.

"But, yeah," she said, gesturing to the soaking essay on his desk again with a sour look on her face, "I can copy it over later and hand it in." Roman leaned in and squinted at the blurry words. "I can probably still read this," she said, smiling a bit.

Lupin laughed and said, dropping the essay in the garbage can, "It's fine. I'm sure it's fine."

She gaped at the garbage can, pointing, scandalized. "Hey!" she shouted, "I worked hard on that! Grindylows! I did a lot of research!"

He smiled widely at her and said, "Well, since you did research, I'm sure the essay was correct. You don't have to redo it."

Roman, chanelling her inner-actress, looked over both shoulders even though they were alone in the room and then leaned in, whispering, "But what if someone finds out?"

Lupin leaned in and whispered close to her ear, "They won't."

She felt his breath on her ear and shivered, but stepped back as if nothing had happened. She smiled widely, shrugged, and said, "Okay!" He nodded and they both stood there awkwardly before she rolled her eyes all around and then held her fist out. She waited for a moment, but he only stared at her.

"What?" he asked, shaking his head with his hands still in his pockets. She rolled her eyes, fist still up, and held her other hand out. He slowly put his right hand in her left palm, and she closed his fingers into a fist. She bumped her knuckles into his, and when they touched she made an explosion sound.

"Pa-chew! Kwaa!" she said, and then slowly moved her hand away, opening her fingers. With a smile on his face, Lupin mocked her.

"It's called a fist-bump," she said, starting for the door. "I expect one every time we see each other." She raised an eyebrow and he nodded in confirmation, still smiling.

Roman's stomach was tight again, but she couldn't figure out why.

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you thought!**

**Stay fabulous!**

**~Paige**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is where it actually starts to have a plot, so more excitement in this chapter. Please excuse any mistakes, as I edit all on my own, and enjoy!**

* * *

Roman, hair still wrapped tightly in a red towel, started pulling on her clothes for school and called out the bathroom door, "Belle!"

Belle skipped up the stairs a few moments later and she leaned on the doorframe, eyes politely averted as Roman pulled on her tights and skirt. "What?" she asked, combing her own short hair. Roman zipped her skirt up the side and asked, "Are you going to do the thingy to my hair? I want people to see before Christmas break."

Belle looked at her watch and then nodded, gesturing to a chair. "Are you staying here for break?" Belle asked as she removed the towel. Roman's wet hair flopped to her shoulders as the rest of the girls bustled around them, getting dressed for the last day of classes before break. Roman nodded and Belle sighed. "You're gonna be here all alone. Dad wants to take Mum skiing."

Belle's mother was a witch, and her father was a Muggle.

Belle had an exquisite talent with hair. The other girls begged her to do charms on her hair that no one even knew, asked her to do something pretty when they knew they'd be around someone they fancied. It wasn't very often that Roman let anyone do anything with her hair- it was usually just a bun wadded up on her head with a red and gold tie for her- so Belle leapt on the chance to change the color.

"Your bangs have gotten long," Belle commented, brushing out Roman's plain brown, now drying, hair from behind her. Roman hummed in reponse. "Make your part," Belle instructed a few minutes later, and Roman reached up. Belle, having gotten it from nowhere, held a hand mirror in front of Roman's face. Keeping her bangs out of the way, Roman pulled on her hair so that the part was directly down the middle, even on both sides.

"Got it?" Belle asked quietly, and Roman nodded, folding her hands in her lap. "Red on the left and green on the right, I think," she said, and Belle asked, already starting on the color with a wordless charm, "And your bangs?"

Roman shrugged, giving herself a headache by trying to see her own hair without turning her head. "Be creative," she said plainly. Belle grinned behind her.

A few girls, pausing to throw something in their suitcase as the train was leaving tomorrow, stopped to stare at Roman or smile at her boldness. She only smiled back at the ones who didn't look appalled, and loudly asked anyone else what they were staring at. They quickly left.

When Belle, humming under her breath, held the mirror out again, Roman grinned. Her bangs, which Belle had charmed to match the sides of her hair (red on the left and green on the right) were pinned back in a bump, so that it was slightly raised. The ends of her still-drying hair were slightly curly, and Belle had thrown the divided colors over each shoulder. The color was perfect- no traces of brown were visible through it- and were colored all the way to her roots. The green popped and the red was bright, and Roman smiled in the mirror at her.

"We'd better get to breakfast. I'm starving!" Belle said, smiling at Roman's hair as they went. A few people gave Roman high-fives, and a few more only stared with wide eyes. "Merry Christmas," she told those people sweetly, then rolled her eyes once they had passed.

When they reached the Great Hall it had been bedecked, as the past few days, with outrageous Christmas decorations and twelve huge trees. A few people gaped at Roman. She smiled back, and saw Dumbledore nudge Snape, both of them looking at her. Dumbledore smiled hugely and Roman waved. Snape snorted.

As soon as Roman sat down, Oliver was once again at her side. He gave Belle a polite nod, and she nodded back, reaching for a piece of toast, and the first thing out of Oliver's mouth didn't even register with Roman until he corrected her.

"Merry Christmas."

"No."

Oliver raised his eyebrows, and just the Roman realized he had a package in his hands. "What?" he asked, sounding confused. Roman stopped for a moment, and then smiled. "Merry Christmas," she said back, and he smiled, shaking his head a bit. He poked the side of her head, hands forever in his Quidditch gloves, and said, "I like your hair."

She nodded and said, trying to get a decent amount of eggs on her fork, "Thanks. You're about the only one who does. You should've seen all the dirty looks I got just walking to breakfast." She shrugged and Belle said, sounding offended, "I worked hard on that!"

"It took you five minutes."

"It was the thought that counts!"

Roman laughed once and Oliver cleared his throat. "Er," he said, handing her the package, "Merry Christmas." She slowly took the package from him, setting her fork down, and pulled at the cord. He had wrapped it in plain brown paper. She spread out the wrappings while Belle looked on in interest, and sighed.

"I don't play Quidditch, Oliver," she said tiredly, and he nodded, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"I know," he said slowly, and his thick accent became more pronouced now that he seemed to be nervous, "but I got new gloves for Christmas, so... I don't need these ones. If you ever decide to join the team." He half smiled at her and she picked up the red-and-black fingerless, leather glove and slipped it on her right hand. They were a little loose, but they would do if she ever did decide to play. Oliver reached over and fastened the strap on the back, even though she could've done it herself. She flexed her fingers and turned her palm face-up.

"I won my first game in these," Oliver said quietly, smiling down at them. Roman opened her mouth, trying to think of something to say, and took the glove off. "I couldn't," she finally said as Belle watched silently. Oliver held a hand up and put the fingerless glove back in the wrapping, tying it up again. "No," he said firmly, standing up. "I want you to have them."

Roman smiled up at him, sighed and then said, "I will think about getting a position on the team."

Oliver positively beamed.

"Merry Christmas, Roman," he said quietly, and before Roman knew it he had swiftly leaned down and pressed his lips to her cheek. It only lasted for a second, but her face turned as red as the left side of her hair. Oliver then stood up and marched away, arms stiff by his sides.

Belle stared wide-eyed after Oliver, who was rejoining his Quidditch buddies, keeping his back to her while they clapped him on the shoulder, and then turned to Roman, who was wrapping up her gloves again. "We can just forget about that," Roman said quietly, stuffing the gloves in her bag. Belle sighed, gulped down the rest of her juice, and stood up.

Roman was silent all the way to Charms, Belle's best and favorite class, and when they did reach the door it was shut. Professor Flitwick was, some students were saying, doing something to the front doors involving Sirius Black, so Belle and Roman moved over to the wall and sat down, keeping their legs crossed.

A few people commented on Roman's hair, for which Belle took the credit, and they sat against the wall, waiting for the class to begin. When the professor finally did get there, class went by quickly, and then Belle and Roman went their seperate ways. Roman made her way to Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Instead of walking to her seat as soon as she reached the half-full room, Roman marched up to Lupin's desk where he sat, doing a last minute look-over of essays, and held out her fist. He gave her half a look, and then bumped his fist into hers while scratching an 8-out-of-10 on someone's paper. He smiled up at her and started.

"Woah," he said, and she laughed. "Like it?" she asked, and struck an outrageous pose, one hand on her hip and another behind her head, face turned up to the ceiling. He laughed again. "Definitely."

Roman laughed and went back to her seat, where Lionel already was, writing slowly on his parchment. "Merry... woah," he said as Roman pulled out her books. She dug around carefully and emerged with a new essay on grindylows, even better than the last time.

The bell rang and Lupin stood up as the class fell silent. "Please pass up your essays on grindylows, and then turn to page 242."

Without a second thought, Roman grabbed Lionel's essay and then handed it to the pair in front of her, and they turned the stack in.

All throughout the class, Lupin sprang random questions on students who looked like they weren't paying attention to keep them awake. Once this happened to Roman, and she sputtered.

"Can you tell me, Roman?" he said with a sly smile, and Roman sat there, eyes wide, Sugar Quill still clamped between her teeth. He stared at her, smiling, while a few students around them started to laugh. "Um," Roman said, dragging it out for a long time. His smile grew wider, and he said quietly, "It's okay."

"PASS," Roman said loudly, and Lupin looked to Lionel.

Lionel said promptly, "Laughter is what finishes the boggart, sir." Roman stuck her tongue out at him.

At the end of class Roman picked up her bag and left to go to lunch- she was famished and had to go all the way to Divination next- but Lupin, once more, called for her to stay behind. He squinted as she approached his desk, hair over her shoulders, and he held up a scroll. "You did the essay anyway," he said. "How did you find the time?"

Roman shrugged. "I had most of it memorized. Grindylows are kinda ugly, so I won't forget that information easily." She scrunched up her nose. Lupin stared hard at her for a long time. She stared back, but when it started to get uncomfortable she crossed her eyes at him.

"You really are a good student," he said, and Roman smiled at him. "Okay," he said at last, "you'd better get to lunch." She nodded once more, held up her fist, and he bumped her knuckles. "Later," she said, and he nodded. As soon as Roman shut the door behind her, Lupin braced his fists on his desk, hung his head, and reminded himself, "Good _student_."

* * *

Belle zipped the top of her suitcase closed and jutted out her bottom lip. "I think you should come," she said at Roman, who was sitting on her bed, wearing an oversized sweatshirt and Muggle jeans, now-brown hair in a knot with the help of a Gryffindor tie. "I don't want you to be all alone on Christmas and so close to your birthday. Don't you wanna ski?"

Roman laughed once and shook her head. "No," she said simply, and Belle, at her short, five foot height, put her hands on her hips. "Are you acting?" she asked. Roman was, but she didn't say anything. "You'd better go catch that train," she said quietly. Belle opened her arms for a hug and Roman stood up to hug her, and Belle sighed into her shoulder. "I just had a thought," she said, standing back and smirking, tying her cloak around her neck.

"And what was that?" Roman asked, anxious to get to the Owlery. The parchment was rolled up inside her hoodie pocket, both rolls.

"You're not gonna be _all _alone here," Belle said loftily, making a point not to meet Roman's eyes. "What does that mean?" Roman asked dumbly. Belle, eyes sparkling now, heaved her suitcase off the bed, mouthed 'Lupin' at Roman and then ducked out of the room before Roman could react to what she'd said. "Merry _bloody _Christmas!" Roman yelled after her.

As soon as she was sure the corridors were empty, Roman stepped into her sneakers and stuck both hands in her pockets, speed-walking toward the Owlery.

When she got there, Roman pulled the first letter she had received out of her pocket and read it again, face a calm mask of indifference as she looked over the words.

_Hi, sweetie. I hope you're having fun at that school of yours? Do good on your studies, and don't let this letter worry you too much. You know your old dad, always making things sound worse than they are, huh? _

_Mum's getting worse. There's no point in denying it. The doctors say they're doing all they can, but the bills are just piling up... I don't suppose you could magic up some money for us, eh? Just kidding, sweetheart. I just want you not to worry. _

_She hasn't woken up for a while now. Your sister comes and stays with her every day, she does when she gets out of school, but nothing's changed. I come by after work, sometimes I take entire days off, but nothing... Nothing is making a difference. They haven't changed the medicine. They haven't tried to do anything more. The cancer's fighting hard, sweetheart, and it's winning. _

_I hate to ruin your Christmas like this, and especially so close to your birthday, but... stay at your school. You can stay there, right? If you can, stay there, or go to a friend's. Go to Belle's! Just... don't come here. It sounds mean, but I don't want you here. I don't want you to see her like this. I want you to remember her how she was when she was healthy, when she was awake..._

_Please don't let my letter ruin your day, or your break. Find some people. Talk to them. Even if you have to act. Just... make the best of your time there. I'm afraid things won't be very exciting this summer. It'll probably be you and your sister and I._

Large sections of the letter here were smudged with a liquid. Roman was sure they were tears.

_Please, know that she loves you, Ramona. We all do. She hasn't spoken to anyone in a long time, but I know she loves you. So much. You know, from the first time you showed interest in acting, we both knew you'd grow up and be famous. Make her proud, honey. You don't have to be famous to do that. Just be happy._

The first time Roman had read this part of the letter, it was her own tears that smudged the letters here.

_Sissy loves you. I love you. Mummy loves you. Merry Christmas, Ramona. Your present should arrive soon, I'm not sure how fast your 'owl post' is. I love you. Have a good rest of the year. _

_Dad._

Roman sighed again and stuffed this letter back into her pocket, then pulled out her carefully drafted response. The entire thing had taken about thirty seconds. It was short, to the point, and almost completely emotionally detatched.

_I love you guys, too. Merry Christmas._

_Roman._

She had used an entire piece of parchment to write this reply, and stared pitifully at the empty place at the bottom. Roman rolled up the letter, tied it with a red ribbon, and secured it to a school owl's leg. It hooted at her and she threw it out the window, probably less gently than it needed to be done. Roman turned around and looked up at the other owls, leaning against the open window.

For a long time, Roman could hear only a very faint buzzing. Her palms became numb on the sill behind her, and the owls' quiet, here-and-there hooting suddenly wasn't audible any more. Her mind was peacefully blank, and she did not blink. She breathed steadily through her nose, staring at the space on the wall between two owls. It felt almost like sleep, but better. She couldn't dream like this.

Ever since these letters had started, since Mum had gotten cancer in her brain, Roman didn't sleep well. Sometimes she spent the entire night awake, working to make her essays perfect or just staring at the inside of the curtains around her bed. Sometimes she allowed herself to sleep, and woke up in a cold sweat, gasping and dry heaving after horrifying nightmares of her Mum suffering, using every ounce of strength in her body to stay alive only to find out Roman never became an actress like they both wanted.

Roman preferred these trance-like states over anything else.

So she stood there, legs crossed at the ankles and hands braced on the window sill behind her, chin almost touching her chest and eyes glassy. She didn't move, didn't startle when an owl flew in the window over her head. It went to its perch, waiting for someone in the castle to find it, and stared at Roman. She could feel all the eyes on her, but couldn't bring herself to move. In her head, in the quiet place where she was now, Mum was healthy and awake and her sister, Natalie, was top of her class in her Muggle school and Father didn't have lines in his face or any gray hair. Roman was an actress and she and Belle lived together and everyone loved everyone and... and NEWT level classes weren't so hard. Jason found a girlfriend and Roman, because everyone loved her acting so much, was given a lifetime supply of free Sugar Quills and... and... and... Mum was okay. And everyone could sleep.

She went around and around in her head for hours, imagining everything that would happen in her perfect life. She would go to a Muggle movie studio, a big one like they had in America, like Hollywood, and would be the best actress anyone had ever seen because she was so _good _at it, so good at hiding what she felt and becoming someone else and looking like she felt a way she didn't, and Mum was in her own chair with her family around her, being waited on by people and watching Roman with pride in her eyes. Pride in her _open _eyes.

Roman swallowed thickly and uncrossed her eyes, turning around. Everything outside the window was dark. She had no friends in the castle. She was alone on Christmas. Dad had a broken heart. Mum was dying.

_Happily holidays_, Roman thought.

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you thought! Stay fabulous!  
~Paige**


	4. Chapter 4

**Shoutout to lbjw0128 for being a loyal reviewer. Kind of a filler chapter her, I suppose. Not much happens, but it will. Enjoy!**

* * *

The next day, Roman woke up, sweat dripping down her cold, extrememly stiff body and stomach churning. As quickly as she could, she threw the covers off her body, dashed through her curtains and to the bathroom in the girls' dorms. She fell to her knees in front of the toilet and emptied her stomach of the light dinner she'd eaten the night before. Her throat burned and her head ached, but her stomach wasn't flipping anymore. She leaned away, redid her bun since most of it was sticking to her sweaty neck, and then stood up, purposely avoiding a mirror. She didn't want to know what she looked like. Roman only rinsed her mouth with mouthwash, bit down on a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and then headed for the Hospital Wing in search of something to help her pounding head.

The whole way there, as there were no students in the empty corridors to distract her, Roman thought of the nightmare she'd had. She had gone against what her father had said, gone to see them in London in the hospital and found Mum there, head lying on her shoulder, her once beautiful reddish brown hair devoid of any real color and her face thinner than was healthy; her skin was waxy, a sickly yellow, and her lips were white and cracked; the worst part, however, were her eyes. They weren't open, they hadn't been for a long time, but there were deep shadows underneath them, her eyes were sunken into her head, too far, so far that Roman was sure even if she could open her eyes that she wouldn't be able to see properly. Nothing happened in the nightmare. Roman just stood at the foot of the bed, a failure of an actress, watching as her mother slowly died in front of her. Nothing happened to distract her from her deteriorating parent, nothing to take the focus off the IV in her arm, or the tube in her nose and how her wedding ring, the ring Father had bought for her when he turned 21, was much too large for her, hanging off her ring finger. Roman stood, frozen, as her mother slowly left her. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Roman, when she was just being herself and not acting, wasn't usually a very emotional person in the sense that she didn't express what she felt. Very rarely did she cry, or even show any signs of sadness, but she could yell when made very angry. However, when the script called for it, Roman could bawl like a baby or curse like a sailor. She could be anyone. She could play anyone. No matter what was asked of her, whether it be she play a woman hellbent on murdering everyone she knew or Mother Theresa, Roman could do it. So she spent the time walking to the Hospital composing her face, becoming a new character, a happy character, a Roman whose family _wasn't _falling apart. Doing this was easy. She acted it every day.

Madam Pomfrey was already bustling around when Roman reached the infirmary, face now perfectly made into the expression she used to always wear. Eyebrows raised, like she was daring something to happen, and a faint smile lingering around the corners of her mouth, like she was thoroughly enjoying whatever it was that was going on. She knocked on the door frame and stuffed her hands back in the pocket of the hoodie she had worn last night, tipping her head forward. "Wotcher, Madam Pomfrey," she said quietly, and Madam Pomfrey looked up.

"Goodness," she said, "what are you doing up so early, Miss Michaels? And here?"

Roman shrugged, smile still lurking around her lips. "My parents wanted to spend some alone time together. My Mum's going to have to go away for a long time, so Dad wanted to spend as much time with her as he could." She gave another smiled and then nonchalantly rubbed her temple. Pomfrey frowned. "What can I do for you, dear?" she asked, and Roman shrugged again, wincing a bit.

"It's my head," she said, "it's kinda... throbbing like I just got stabbed." She said this casually, hoping it would get her some medicine faster, but what the nurse didn't know was that this expression was true. Every two seconds a sharp pain pounded in Roman's temples.

Pomfrey quickly went over to a nearby shelf and came back with a tall glass filled with a pink, bubblegum-colored liquid. "Drink this, dear," Pomfrey said, "it's bitter, but it'll take care of that headache." Roman plugged her nose with her fingers and knocked back the drink. When she let go of her nose, the bitter aftertaste flooded her mouth. "Blech," she said, screwing up her face. Madam Pomfrey took the glass back and Roman said, "Thanks." Madam Pomfrey smiled and Roman said, though she didn't need to explain herself, "I'm gonna go get some breakfast."

She turned around and walked quietly to the Great Hall. There was only one table there, as there were so few students. Roman saw three third years there and sighed. No one from her year had stayed for the holidays. As Roman approached the table, golden dinnerware laden with food still present, she saw the only girl drop her book after her one friend got to laughing too hard. Roman stooped and picked up the book, handing it back. The girl, who had bushy hair and rather large front teeth, held her hand out. "Oh, sorry, thanks-" she began to say, but Roman drew the book back in to her chest and looked at the cover.

"Werewolves," Roman muttered, and the girl's face turned bright pink, but Roman looked at her and asked, "Lupin's got you studying werewolves?"

The girl accepted the book and scooted a little closer to the edge of the bench. Roman took this as her invitation to sit down, so she did. "Snape, actually," the girl said, wrinkling up her nose. "He stood in for Lupin a few days ago. Thinks we're behind."

They both stared sideways at each other for a moment, then Roman stuck her hand out. The girl, apparantly happy to have female company at the table, eagerly shook her hand and said, "Hermione Granger."

"Roman Michaels," Roman said.

Hermione shoved her book back in her already-overstuffed bag and tapped her red-haired friend on the shoulder. This got the attention of the other boy, too, and he leaned around to see what Hermione wanted. Hermione, gesturning to her newly made friend, said, "This is Roman Michaels."

The red-head waved a hand after he had swallowed all his food. "Ron Weasley," he said, and Roman smiled. Did he really think she didn't know who he was? His hair might as well have been a nametag, considering all the siblings he had. The other boy waved too, and said more quietly, "Harry Potter." Roman knew that, but she smiled at him too. "Nice to meet you all."

Harry pointed a finger and said, "Wait a second. I know you!" Roman waited for him to finish. "Wood talks about you all the time. You know, Oliver Wood?"

"Oh, I know," Roman replied, reaching for the bowl of grapes on the table. "Yeah," Harry said, "he talks about you all the time. Says you'd be great for the team if you practiced on his orders..."

Roman laughed. "What're you guys doing today?" she asked, and Hermione held up her book. "Homework!" she said, and Roman smiled a bit. "On Christmas break?" she asked, and Hermione nodded, her nose scrunched up. Roman stole a piece of toast from Hermione's plate, although she didn't really look like she minded, as most of her focus was on her book, and stood up, crunching the toast in half. "Well, I'm gonna go see who else I can bother. Later, new friends!"

* * *

Roman quickly walked down the corridor toward Lupin's office, school bag slung over her shoulder. It felt wrong during the holidays. When she slowly pushed open his door, she saw him at his desk, writing furiously on a piece of parchment. Then her eyes flicked to the tank in the corner.

"What is THAT supposed to be?" Roman yelled, barging in the room, smiling wide. Lupin jumped and then looked up; he saw what Roman was looking at and smiled. "It's a grindylow," he said, standing up from his seat. Roman dropped her bag on a nearby desk and pressed both palms against the side of the small glass tank, peering in at the creature.

"Ugh, they're much uglier than the pictures in the books," she said. The horned water-demon hissed angrily at her.

Lupin stood behind her, watching as she made faces at the grindylow. She stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes, and the grindylow shook its fist at her. She stood up.

"Wow," Roman said, and Lupin smiled at her. They just stood like that for a few seconds, and Roman thought she saw his pupils dialate a little, but then she grabbed her bag and opened it.

"What can I help you with, Roman?" he asked, and she said, "Well, I _was _going to ask if I could get my essays in advance so I could have them done before term resumed, but now I just want to make faces at that thing." They both laughed and she scrunched up her nose at the grindylow. It retreated to a far corner of its tank, hiding in the murky water. Roman laughed again.

"You really want more work for the holidays?" Lupin asked, brows pulling together. Roman shrugged, pulling out four empty scrolls. "I don't have anything else to do. If I get these done I can rub it in Belle's face." She thought of Belle, along with the rest of the school, working hard at their essays while Roman lounged in the common room, lap full of Sugar Quills.

Lupin stared her down for a moment, appraising her, and then shrugged. "If you'd like." Roman nodded and sat down in her usual desk. Lupin asked, eyebrows raised, "You want to stay here?"

"You want me to work alone?" Roman asked, sounding hurt. She sniffed, picked up her bag and blank scrolls, and then stood up, marching toward the door. "Fine!" she shouted. "Fine! I see how it is!"

Lupin laughed from behind her, as she didn't step through the doorway, "You are quite the actress, Roman."

She rolled her eyes and sat back down in her desk as he handed her a book. "You really mean that?" she asked, and he nodded. "Good," she said matter-of-factly, "because I'm going to be famous." She beamed up at him and then asked, "What page?"

"Chapter seven," he said quietly, moving back over to his desk. For the rest of the time, he quietly watched Roman write.

_Good _student, he thought.

* * *

**Let me know what you thought! Stay fabulous!  
~Paige**


	5. Chapter 5

**Review, please!**

The moment Belle stepped foot in the door of the castle, she ran straight to Roman and jumped in her arms, regardless of being in a skirt, and launched into a story about how many times she fell while skiing, legs still wrapped around Roman's waist, shouting into her face. Roman just stood there, stunned, in front of all the teachers at the High Table, including Lupin, who were staring at them, amused. Belle shouted about tumbling all the way down the bunny slope and how a very attractive Muggle with shaggy hair and muscles helped her up, and then, still clinging onto Roman's front while she stood there, the other students filtering around them, reached in the bag on her shoulder and jammed a beanie from the resort over Roman's damp hair, smiling widely. They were now the only ones standing, and everyone was staring.

"So how was your holiday?" Belle asked, still yelling in a loud voice. Roman walked slowly back over to where she had been sitting at the House tables and sat down, moving Belle, who was now in her lap, onto the bench. "It was okay," Roman said, as the rest of the hall returned to their conversations, and Roman adjusted her hat so it wasn't over her eyes.

"That's not all I got you!" Belle sang, digging around in her bag. "I didn't get anything for you... Yet." Belle shrugged and said in a sing-song voice, "It's about giving, not receiving. Got these at the gift shop they had there." She handed Roman something else, and she tore the paper open, only half caring about what was in there. She opened the rather large box and saw a pair of extremely large, thin, silver hoop earrings. She raised an eyebrow. "I like these," Roman said. Roman had three holes in her earlobes, which she currently had diamond studs in, and one in the cartilage in her right ear, which she had a silver ball in. Her father mother had decided to let her get them early, so they could distract her from the pain with a lollipop. Then she got the cartilage when she turned twelve.

Roman took out the very bottom studs and poked the hoops through, putting the studs in her pocket. "How do they look?" Roman asked, and Belle nodded, digging into her food. Roman wanted to eat, but was afraid it would just add to things to throw up in the morning.

"So what did you do?" Belle asked again, looking sideways at Roman. "Homework. Got really ahead," Roman said, putting a fork in her mouth so she wouldn't have to speak anymore. Why, _why_, were her acting skills failing her now? Of all times?

"That's all?" Belle asked, and then leaned over, nudging her shoulder and wiggling her eyebrows. "What about Lupin?"

"What about him?"

"I was asking what you did."

Roman choked on her pumpkin juice and Belle, shaking with laughter, patted her on the back while she tried to clear her throat in a napkin. "Why do you do this to me?" Roman shouted at her, and Belle pulled a straight face. "I think he's mad I make you choke so often," she said somberly, "he's watching you right now. Again. You're so lucky!"

"He does not like me," Roman said, and she was pleased to see that she actually believed this herself. It was a disappointing thought, but she believed it. "Do you like him?" Belle asked, leveling her with a glare. "Well?" she asked as Roman remained silent.

"He's a good teacher," Roman said, taking another bite of food and chewing it longer than necessary. "That's all. He's probably married and has kids and would never look at a student that way, even if I did like him. Which I don't. But still."

Belle stared at her for a long time, and Roman averted her eyes so that she wouldn't blush, and she saw Lupin, who was watching her and Belle with interest. He waved a little, and she waved back.

"I think I proved my point," Belle said smugly, and Roman widened her eyes. "What does that prove?" she asked in exasperation. "Do you see him waving to anyone else?" Belle shot back.

"Why do you care so much?" Roman shouted, and a few people looked their way.

"I want you to be happy!" Belle yelled, tiny face turning pink. Her blonde bob swung around. Roman only stared at her.

"I am happy," she breathed, rather quietly. Belle looked away, frowning now. "How's your mum?" she asked after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Am I that readable?" Roman sighed. "I'll never be an actress now."

Roman sighed again and reached in the pocket of the sweatshirt she had taken to wearing everyday, handing Belle the last letter she had received. It was a long reply in response to her two sentences. Belle carefully took the parchment while Roman worked on forming her happy-Roman face. Belle silently read the letter, and one minute in she started sniffling.

_Hi, honey. Your sister says hello and she loves you. I miss you. And Mum loves you. Did your present come yet? _

It hadn't.

_I worry about those owls sometimes. Are they usually good about deliveries? Anyway, I just thought I'd write back and say that things are getting worse, if that's possible. The doctors are saying it's one of the most aggressive cases of cancer they've seen. It's affecting almost her entire brain. It's affecting her memories. She woke up today, just for a tick, so that's good, but _

After this word the writing became bolder, as if he had to press down very hard to get the next words out. Teardrops also smudged the words here.

_she didn't know who I was when she saw me. I told her I was her husband, and the doctors said I should show pictures, but she fell back asleep before I could. The doctors are saying I should pull the plug. But I couldn't do that without asking you first. She's in so much pain, even if she can't tell us, I know that, but I can't bear the thought_

The letters were very squiggly now. Roman was sure that his vision was being affected by the tears covering the page. Belle was crying too, wiping the tears off her cheeks with her fingertips before too many people could notice.

_of killing my own wife. That's essentially what it'll be. They'll turn off the machine, and she'll die. I can't do that without asking you. So what do you think? They think it's a very slim chance she'll wake up again, she's not even really living. Tell me what I should do. I wish you were here right now. I need my Ramona. Write back quickly on what I should do. I will keep her on the machines if that's what you want. The doctors said they won't make us pay for the extra time, until I get a response. I love you so much, Ramona. So does your sister. Write back soon, and try to have a good holiday. Tell Belle I said hello. Write back soon. I love you._

_Dad._

Belle gasped a bit, trying to catch her breath, and dabbed at her eyes with a napkin Roman handed her. Roman was glaring at her steak. She couldn't get her happy-Roman face to work.

"What are you gonna do?" Belle whispered in a voice lower than a whisper, handing the letter back. Roman folded it up, put it back inside her pocket along with the first letter she had received, and shrugged once. She said in a hard voice, "I don't know," and cleared her throat. "I just don't know."

XOXOXO

The next thing Roman knew, Belle was shaking her arm like mad, already fair face deathly pale. "Someone's screaming!" Belle whimpered, and Roman sat up, wide awake. She hadn't really been sleeping that well, anyway.

Belle handed her a shirt to put on over her tank top and grabbed her hand, walking down the stairs behind her. Other sixth year girls were rubbing their eyes and leaning out of their beds.

"Wha?"

"What's happening?"

"I need my eight hours!"

Roman stepped carefully down the stairs while Belle all but clung to her back. When they reached the common room they saw Percy Weasley emerging from the boys' stairs, pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas.

"What's going on?" Roman asked, shielding Belle from view. Other students, rubbing the sleep from their eyes, stepped off the stairs and looked around. "Who shouted?"

"Everyone back upstairs!" Percy shouted, and his red-headed brother, Roman's new friend Ron, said, "Percy- Sirius Black. Woke me up! Standing over me with a knife!"

Everyone in the common room froze. Belle whimpered into Roman's back, clutching her nightshirt very tightly. Professor McGonagall stepped in the room in her dressing gown, slamming the portait behind her.

"Black woke me up!" Ron shouted at her, and she stared incredulously at him. "Roman!" Belle whisper-yelled.

"Ridiculous!" she said faintly. "How could he have gotten through the portait hole?" Ron pointed at the back of the portait guarding Gryffindor Tower and said, "As him if he saw, if he let Black in!"

McGonagall left to go talk to the portait and Belle cried in a terrified voice, "C'mon, Roman, let's go, if he's still out there he can't get up the girls' stairs! C'mon!" Roman gave Ron a concerned look and followed Belle back up the stairs. Everyone else stayed back in the common room.

"Are you scared?" Belle asked as Roman pulled back the covers to her own bed. She slid in and Belle crawled in beside her, curling her small body up in her side. "Not really," Roman said.

"Are you acting?"

"If that makes you feel better."

**Let me know what you think! Stay fabulous,  
~Paige**


	6. Chapter 6

**I know I've got one reader, and I appreciate that, so here goes! Sorry it's been so long, I just started highschool. Freshman, baby:) **

**Enjoy!**

The next morning at breakfast, Belle insisted on clinging to Roman's arm everywhere they went. She stood outside the bathroom door, held her hand walking down the stairs and to the Great Hall, and when they sat down she looped her arm through Roman's.

"Can you pass me the marmalade, Alicia?" Roman said. "I've lost the use of my left arm."

Belle ate very quickly with both hands, piled her used things on her plate, and then grabbed Roman's arm again, looking nervously around them. "He escaped again, Belle," Roman said, trying to hold her cup without putting her fork down. "I know, but what if he came back?" Belle whispered.

"You know I'm going to have to leave you when we go to class, right? I've got DADA and you've got to go all the way to the greenhouses."

Belle stared up at her in horror, mouth a perfect circle. "Don't leave me!" she said as everyone stood up. Roman picked up her tan bag and pointed. "Go cleave to Ken Bright over there, he's got class with you, right?" She rushed over and grabbed his arm. He smiled.

Roman walked by herself to DADA, where Lupin was standing by the door, watching the students file in. He stopped Roman and asked in a low voice, "Is it true Black broke into Gryffindor Tower last night? Are you okay?" He looked so worried that Roman couldn't respond for a few seconds. Then she blinked slowly and nodded. "Yeah," she said, "I'm fine."

Her left shoulder felt very warm, and when she looked down he had his hand resting there. She sighed. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again, and she nodded. Roman walked to her seat, and missed everything Lupin said in the lesson. She had the essay done, anyway.

XOXOXO

"I really don't think we should be here!" Belle yelled. "What if Sirius Black shows up?"

Roman stuffed her feet in a pair of fur boots and tucked her Muggle jeans in, and then pulled on the beanie Belle had brought back from her ski trip. She pulled on a black coat, the waterproof kind that had felt inside, and waited for Belle to finish with her own winter clothes. Roman did the scarf for her to speed things up and then said, "C'mon, Black isn't gonna show up. I need to get out of this castle!"

Belle made Roman hold her hand again as they joined the other students in going to Hogsmeade. They got some funny looks, but Belle wouldn't let go. Roman saw over the heads of lots of other students that Harry Potter, one of her new friends, was going back in the castle and she frowned. Pity. Hogsmeade was great.

They made the rest of the long walk with minimal falls and only one face full of snow. Roman saw various teachers weaving through the huge body of students, and when she looked at Belle she saw that her eyes were scanning faces too. Just when Roman was going to pull Belle to the right to go into Honeydukes- she was rather low on Sugar Quills- Belle jumped up and shouted, "Professor!"

Roman looked where Belle was shouting and saw Lupin stop. He had been heading for the Three Broomsticks, but he stopped a few feet away and yelled back, "Yes?"

"Are you married?"

Lupin gave her a funny look and then shook his head. His eyes flicked to Roman and his cheeks turned a bit red, but then he looked back to Belle. "Why?" he asked, but Belle only waved a gloved-hand and shouted, "Okay, bye!"

Belle pulled Roman into Honeydukes and giggled like a maniac. "What was that about?" Roman asked, letting go of her hand to grab a handful of Sugar Quills. She took them over to the counter and dug in her pocket for money, and then Belle sang, "He's not married, he's not married!" But then her eyes went wide and she cursed. "I should've asked if he had a girlfriend," she said, snapping her fingers. It didn't work because of her gloves. She dashed out of the store before Roman could grab her.

On the inside, Roman was rather glad he didn't have a girlfriend or wife. She _did _like him- he was attractive, and actually had a brain in his head, and was polite and handsome and had a nice face and she was sure he had muscles, plus he had a nice face- but he was still her professor and she was just some kid. Hiding a crush this big was good acting practice, anyway.

Belle came back inside as Roman tucked her Quills in her pocket and shook her head, out of breath. "He doesn't have a girlfriend, any children, has his own house and a bunch of really sexy scars."

"Did you interrogate the poor man?" Roman asked, grabbing Belle's hand and leading her out of the shop.

"Yes, I told him you loved him and wanted to move in."

Roman stopped in the snow, eyes closed and head tilted back. Her heart was beating insanely- she didn't put something like this past Belle- but said anyway, "So help me, God, I will tie you up and leave you in the Shrieking Shack if you did that." She looked back down at her with a glare and Belle was laughing silently. "You're not the only one who's allowed to act. But he did wonder why I wanted to know all this stuff. He asked if it had anything to do with _Miss Michaels_," she said with a smirk.

Roman only glared down at her and then Belle grabbed her hand back and said, "Speaking of, let's go to the Shrieking Shack!"

And they were off. Belle pulled them through the huge crowd of people and up the nearby hill to the famous Shrieking Shack, the most haunted building in all of Britain. When they reached the very peak of the hill, they saw that there were already some kids up there. Roman recognized her two new friends, Ron and Hermione, and three more people she didn't know. She was just about to say hello when a huge clump of mud hit one of the boys in the head. The problem was it had been thrown from nowhere.

"Did you just see that?" Belle asked in a whisper, and Roman nodded.

The boy who had been hit stumbled after Ron tripped him and the next thing Roman saw was Harry Potter's head, floating in midair. The boy with the pale blond hair stared at him, pointed, screamed, and then he and his friends started running toward them.

Roman knew that Harry Potter wasn't supposed to be in Hogsmeade. She had seen him going back in the castle. She had no idea how he had gotten past Filch, or why he was invisible, but knew that the boy was going to tell on him and she didn't want him to get in trouble.

"You know him?" Belle asked Roman, letting go of her hand. Ron and Hermione were now staring desperately after the boys, and then they saw Roman. "Help!" they mouthed.

Roman nodded, and Belle gave her a small push. "Run," she croaked.

Roman ran.

She pushed past a lot of people and when the three boys got caught behind a large crowd of carolers, Roman sped by them and knew she would reach the castle first and be able to create a distraction. Roman had always been a rather physical person, as she was the size of and had the stature of the average football player, and had very strong legs, so she reached the castle well before the boys.

She knew that the boys were Slytherins and that Snape favored them and hated Harry Potter most of anyone- that was common knowledge in the castle- so she ran straight to his office. He had been sitting at his desk, and when she slammed his door against the wall and pitched headlong into the room, he didn't even have time to yell at her before she fainted.

She didn't really faint, of course, but she acted like it. She stopped in his doorway for a moment while he figured out what he was looking at, and then when he had started to say, "Michaels! What do you think you're-" Roman rolled her eyes back into her head and slumped forward, not even protecting her face from the cold stone floor. He jumped out of his seat and came around his desk, squatting down next to her. Just then the three boys bursted into the room, two of them still covered in green muck.

"Malfoy," Snape growled, "go get Madam Pomfrey. This girl's just fainted for no reason."

"But sir- Harry Potter-"

"Go, Malfoy!"

Snape gently slapped her cheeks and shook her arms, but Roman held her breath and kept very still. "Michaels!" Snape growled, as though his threatening tone would wake her. "What happened?"

A few moments later, when Roman was afraid she was starting to turn purple, Malfoy returned. Roman heard another deeper voice that made Roman shiver.

"What happened to her, Snape?" the voice said, and it took everything she had not to open her eyes.

"Don't ask me," Snape said back, still tapping her cheeks, "she just bursted in and then fainted. Do you know what she was doing?"

"I saw her running out of Hogsmeade, so I followed-" the shiver-inducing voice said.

"I know why, sir! She's friends with Potter and he-"

"Silence!" Snape spat, and Roman thought that it was odd that he was being so cold to his favorite student. Wasn't he usually out to get Harry 24/7?

"I thought I told you to find Madam Pomfrey, Draco?" Snape asked, and she felt a warm hand touch her forehead. "She's coming," Malfoy said in a glum voice.

"Roman," the voice whispered, and she felt his hot breath on her neck. "Roman," he said again.

"Draco, you should go get changed. You're all filthy."

She heard footsteps shuffle from the room along with disappointed grumbling. Roman cheered in her head. Harry would definitely be back in his room by now.

"Out of the way, out of the way!" a stern voice said, and the hand immediately left her face. "What happened?" Madam Pomfrey asked, touching her fingers to Roman's neck. She allowed a small breath to get out, and her pulse picked up again. She couldn't _die_.

"All I saw was her running very fast out of Hogsmeade," the voice said, "and then I followed and found her here. She may have just run too much. Was Malfoy chasing her? I saw him running, too." Snape snorted softly, and then said, "I hardly doubt Malfoy would be chasing _her_."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the voice asked angrily.

Roman's breath stopped again, and Madam Pomfrey said, "Enough yelling!" She mumbled something under her breath and Roman, inner actress back at its best, took this as her cue to wake up. She coughed once, twice, and then gasped, sitting up. Her eyes flew open and she clutched at her throat. She remembered what had been said about Malfoy chasing her and thought that now would be a good chance to get him back for Harry, as he obviously had been trying to get him in touble, so she shouted, "Malfoy, stop!"

And then she looked around, hand still at the base of her throat, and her eyes stopped on Lupin. He had been the voice. "Professor," she gasped, and he leaned in.

"Malfoy. He and his... his _thugs _were chasing me. Did you see? Did you _see _them harrassing Hermione and Ron?" Roman sobbed a bit and Snape froze beside her. "I- I stepped in to try and stop them- they were being so _mean_, Professor, making fun of Ron's family and Hermione's blood- and then they turned on _me_! I tried to- to tell them to stop but they wouldn't, so I just ran, Professor, I just ran and then I got all lightheaded and... and..." Tears were leaking from the corners of her eyes now and Lupin looked very angry. His eyes flashed up to Snape and he growled, "I assume you'll be giving the lot of them detention, Snape?"

"Of course," Snape said in a quiet voice, glaring suspiciously at Roman. She sniffled and wiped away a few tears and accepted Lupin's hand. He pulled her off the ground and put an arm around her shoulder, leading her out of the office, Snape still glaring from behind them.

"I think you should come to the infirmary, dear," Madam Pomfrey said from behind her, but Roman, still wiping fake tears off her cheeks, shook her head and tried to smile. "I think I'm just going to go to bed, actually," she said, and her voice broke on 'actually', "I'm tired now. Thank you." Madam Pomfrey asked if she was sure and Roman said yes, and then she allowed herself to be led away by Professor Lupin.

"I'm so sorry, Roman," he said, holding her closer to his side. She breathed deeply next to him, looking like she was trying to catch her breath, but she was really trying to memorize his scent. Who kenw how long it would be before she was this close to him again?

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" he asked, looking down at her. She peeled off her winter jacket- running had made her so hot- and nodded, adjusting her beanie. They had stopped in front of the portait of the Fat Lady, who was talking to her friend Violet.

"I'll definitely have a word with the Headmaster about this, Roman," Lupin said quietly, turning to face her in front of the portait. Little did either of them know, Dumbledore was standing just around the corner, already listening. He peered around and saw Lupin lean down and embrace Roman tightly. He didn't miss the blood that rushed up to color Roman's cheeks, nor did he neglect to hear the tiny sigh Lupin gave. She hugged him back tightly and then he stepped back, holding her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly, and Roman nodded again. She stepped quietly through the portait hole and saw Lupin close his eyes and sigh. Dumbledore sighed to himself, and returned to his study. Lupin loved her, and he knew it.

Roman rushed up the boys' stairs and opened the door to the room she knew Harry and Ron and probably Hermione were in, and leaned her head in. "Harry?" she whispered, and saw movement. "Come in!" someone said, and Roman walked over, still in her winter things. A curtain opened and revealed Hermione and Ron and Harry all sitting on a bed. Ron scooted over to make room for Roman.

"Thank you so much, Roman," Harry said, and then he stopped. "Have you been crying?" he asked, pointing. Roman waved a hand. "I," she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers, "_fainted _in Snape's office, and when I woke up I told everyone Malfoy and his friends chased me all the way back from Hogsmeade. They won't be out of detention until they take their NEWTs."

Harry's mouth was agape, Ron was grinning at her, and Hermione looked impressed. Roman put a hand on her chest and said, "I'm an actress." Harry asked, "You are?"

Roman sat very still on the edge of the bed, then rolled her eyes back in her head just as she had before, and slumped sideways off the bed with a thump. The three of them leaned over the edge of the bed, watching, as Roman lay very still for a moment, then sat up, doing the same reenactment she had in Snape's office. She even cried again. When she was done she stood up, grinning, and bowed as the three third years clapped.

"Brilliant!" Ron said, and Roman winked at him.

"So I'm not in trouble?" Harry asked, and Roman put her hands on her hips. "Not yet," she said, and Hermione crossed her arms in a superior kind of way as Roman continued, "but I wouldn't pull something like that again for a long time. Snape was about the only one who didn't believe me. Be careful, Harry." And with that she left the room, headed for her own bed. Running really had made her tired.

As soon as she stepped foot in the girls' dorms Belle jumped up, glass of water in hand. "How'd it go?" she asked. Roman replied, "Fainted," before she took the water and drained the whole glass in one gulp. "Classic," Belle replied with a smile.

"Will you tuck me in?" Roman asked, stripping off her hot winter clothes and she laid in her bed in her undergarments. Belle pinched her cheek.

"Anything for my little actress."

**Review and tell me what you thought. Stay fabulous,  
~Paige**


	7. Chapter 7

**Two chapters in one night! Woo!**

"How about red and gold? For Gryffindor," Roman said, and Belle stood behind her in the chair once more, mirror in hand. "Okey dokey," Belle said, in a very good mood today. Roman, going all out for Harry and the rest of the Gryffindor team, was getting Belle to charm her hair again and was wearing a red shirt, scarlet-and-gold striped scarf, and red pants. She let her wet hair fall down once more, and before she knew it, the left half was gold and the right half was scarlet. Belle did the same thing with her bangs as she did on Christmas- she dyed the halves accordingly and then pulled them back in a bump. "Great," Roman said, standing up, and then joined Belle in going down to the Quidditch pitch. On the way down, they met the Quidditch team for Gryffindor.

"I like your hair," Harry told her, and Roman gave it an appreciative flip as they walked down the sloping lawn. "Are you nervous?" Roman asked, and Oliver said from behind the two, "Very."

"Good luck," Roman told Harry, and he took his Firebolt into the changing room. Oliver matched his pace with Roman's; Belle was talking with Alicia Spinnet.

"So, Roman," Oliver said, "I see you've got your pride on." He gestured to her hair. She nodded politely and said, "Thank you."

He looked down at her hands and saw that, in the hopes that he wouldn't be offended by the fact that she had no other reason to wear them, she had on the Quidditch gloves he had given her and beamed wide. He was silent and they stopped outside the changing room door, where the rest of the team was waiting nervously. All the eyes on them seemed to give Oliver his courage. He puffed his chest up and asked, "Think- think I can have a kiss for luck, Roman?" She stared at him for a long time while the team looked on, thought about how much she wanted Gryffindor to win, and then leaned in and pressed her lips to his cheek. His face was bright red when she pulled back.

"Can we have kisses for luck, too?" Fred and George Weasley asked, and Roman looked over at them. They were both waiting eagerly. Roman licked her hand from heel to fingertip and slapped George Weasley across the face. It wasn't a very hard slap, though. George pressed his fingertips to the place where she had slapped him and said, a cheeky grin on his face, "I'll take it!"

XOXOXO

Belle and Roman pushed through the crowd of Gryffindors from first to seventh years, some of them shrieking and some crying and others looking for people to collect money from bets, and made their way onto the field where a large crowd of people had already surrounded the Quidditch team.

"Harry!" Roman shouted, voice already hoarse from screaming so much during the match. Harry peered around Angelina to look at her, and she rushed forward, holding his face in her hands. "You were brilliant!" she shouted, and without thinking about it she leaned down and quickly crushed her lips to his. "Bloody brilliant!" she shouted, and then ran over to Katie Bell, slamming into her with a hug. Harry stood there, dazed, staring at the spot where Roman had just been standing. She had just kissed him. Was he awake?

Katie and Belle and Roman were now jumping in a circle, shouting wordlessly at each other in excitement. Oliver rushed over and wrapped his long arms around the three of them, yelling at the sky and jumping with them. "We won!" Oliver shouted, and the four of them thrusted their fists into the sky. "We woooooooooooooon!" they all cried, and Oliver fell to the ground. "Oooooohhhhh!" Roman screamed at the sky, hands clenched into fists. "We won!"

As the rest of the supporters continued to scream as enthusiastically as the team who had actually won, Harry was hoisted up onto people's shoulders, along with the rest of the team, and carried over to the stands. Roman and Belle tagged along, still fist pumping and shouting, "We won!" at any Slytherin who passed, ill-faced.

Dumbledore passed Wood the Cup, and he held tightly onto it, sobbing, and then passed it to Harry, who hoisted it in the air, beaming.

"GO HARRY!"

The next morning was a Saturday, and Belle knew that she wasn't supposed to wake Roman up when she was asleep on a weekend, but one peek inside her curtain told her that it was completely necessary that she do just that.

When Roman had nightmares, she became extremely rigid, arms stiff by her sides and legs straight out. Her entire body was cold but sweat dripped off her and she always woke up with her stomach churning. She didn't ever scream, or cry, or thrash around. She just gasped, woke up, and then vomited. Belle didn't want this to happen, so she pulled the curtain aside, sat on the bed, and tried to wake Roman gently.

"Wake up," she said softly, putting a hand on Roman's arm. Roman didn't move, and Belle could see beads of sweat forming all over her face, and it was causing her gray tank top to stick to her chest. Belle leaned over and blew on Roman's face.

"Wake up, I'm not cleaning your puke," Belle said lightly, and she stood up off the bed. So much for waking her gently.

Belle slammed her small body back down on the matress, shaking the entire bed, and Roman sat up, long brown hair stuck to her face and neck, damp with sweat. "WAKE UP!" Belle shouted before Roman could fall back asleep. Eyes still shut, she clamped her hands over her forehead and shouted back, "I am awake! You're lucky everyone else is, too, or you'd get dropkicked out that window! Get me some water!" Belle rolled her eyes, mumbled, "So dramatic," and poured some water in a glass from the pitcher under the window. She returned with the glass and Roman drained it.

"Why are you already dressed?" Roman asked Belle, wrenching her eyes open. Belle sat there in a flowing gray shirt with a white tank top underneath, a black skirt, black tights and Muggle flats. "Did you go shopping at the ski place?" Roman asked, and Belle shrugged. "They wanted me to get my own Christmas things so they knew I'd be happy with it."

"So why are you up?" Roman asked, flipping her covers off her body. She felt happy-Roman would be very necessary today. That nightmare was one of the worst she had ever had. Instead of watching her mother sleep like last time, Roman only stood there, zombie-like, as Mum tried to keep her frail grip on her while she wailed in a broken voice, "Why? Why are you going to let them turn the machines off? Do you not love me anymore?" In the dream, Roman only stood there. Belle stayed on Roman's bed, which was right next to the doorway to the girls' bathrooms, and tried not to listen as Roman got sick in the toilet again.

"It's almost noon," Belle answered as though Roman had never been sick. When Roman emerged, toothbrush in her mouth, she said, "What are we doing today?" Belle shrugged.

Belle waited for Roman to finish making herself presentable, which including putting on her normal school skirt although they had no lessons that day, wadding her hair up with a Gryffindor tie, and throwing on a jumper when she saw the snow outside. "Aren't you cold?" Roman asked quietly, and Belle shook her head. She moved her bangs out of her face and said, "Wanna go to breakfast?" Roman shrugged and straightened her tights and they headed for the stairs.

During the long walk to the Great Hall, Belle waved at people and Roman worked on her happy-Roman face. She stared at the ground and focused on becoming someone who could sleep soundly through the night, who didn't wake up and vomit first thing, someone whose mother wasn't dying and father's heart wasn't breaking. Someone with a good life. Happy Roman.

Belle steered Roman into the hall and they sat down on an empty part of the bench at Gryffindor table, and Roman laid her head down on her folded arms. Belle patted the back of her head as Roman yawned. "Tired," she sighed, and Belle silently began eating. She waved to a few people and kept an eye on Roman, who appeared to be sleeping on the table.

Belle's breakfast was quiet for the most part, except when the morning post came in. Belle saw a black owl come swooping toward her, and she yelled, "Roman, watch it!" Roman hurriedly sat up, a napkin stuck to her face, just as the owl landed in a bowl of chips in front of them. It had a small pouch tied to its leg. The owl stuck its leg out, hooting, but Belle and Roman could only stare at it. It also had a letter in its beak, but the both of them could only stare at this, too.

"Take it," Belle whispered, and Roman whispered back, "You take it."

"It's for you, you take it."

"Just take it!"

"You take it or I'll take it!"

"Good! You take it!"

"I'm taking it!"

Belle leaned forward, took the letter out of the owl's beak, and then untied the small pouch. She handed them both to Roman, stuck a small piece of toast in the owl's face, and with one more hoot it flew away.

Roman picked up both of the things and Belle wordlessly followed her as they ducked out of the hall. For some reason, Roman didn't want to open the letter in front of the students, in front of Lupin. She knew the pouch was her present, but in the hopes that she would have something to make her day a little better, handed this to Belle to open after the letter. It read:

_I got your reply, Ramona, and I'm sorry about your present- I realized I actually _hadn't _sent it yet, but it should be with this owl now. I do hope you like it, and I give it to you with all the love in the world. _

_The head doctor and I had a very, very long talk this morning, and your sister sat in. She took a day off school to listen. We both asked lots of questions, and he answered them so we knew what he was saying. _

Already tears splattered the page, and then the handwriting abruptly changed. Roman recognized it as her sister's, and realized that Dad must have instructed her on what to write.

_They said,_ Natalie's bold writing wrote, _that if we wanted to turn the machines off they wouldn't make us pay for it. We had to sign a bunch of papers, but I haven't signed that one yet. Are you sure it's what you want? Once they turn it off, there's no going back. When it's done, it's done. If that's what you think I should do, I will. Do you want to see her one last time? I don't think you should, I don't want you to have to remember her like that, but if that's what you want, you can. I don't know if that Headmaster- Dumbledore?- would let you come, but if he does and you want to... I'll be here. _

_What I'm trying to say is everything is ready if you think I should pull the plug. We've got the papers in order, we've got the money issue settled, and we've said our prayers. She is hurting. We're ready if you are. Reply as soon as you can. I love you, Ramona._

_Dad and Natalie._

Belle had been reading over Roman's shoulder, both of them in the corridor outside the Great Hall, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. Belle was sobbing into her hand, eyes clamped shut as tears leaked out, curled up in Roman's side. But Roman wasn't crying. She held the letter very tightly in both hands, staring down at the words _We're ready if you are._ Footsteps echoed in the corridor but Roman didn't register them. She held her hand out to Belle as the person came closer, and the small pouch dropped in her hand while Belle cried.

Roman layed the letter in her lap and pulled the tiny drawstrings to the black velvet pouch. She held it upside down and her mother's wedding ring tumbled into her palm, a single rainbow-sparkle diamond set into the very middle of a silver band. Belle turned her entire body away from Roman at this and started sobbing even harder, loud crying echoeing throughout the almost-empty corridor, as Roman stared down at the gift with a blank face.

What was this? Happy-Roman didn't have any jewelry except her earrings. Where did this come from? Was it for her?

That's what she was trying to think of, but the thoughts of 'she's going to die without her wedding ring oh my God she's going to die without this' went around in her head and overpowered the happy-Roman thoughts.

Belle, apparently not noticing the other person in the corridor either, asked through her hiccupping, "Is that her wedding ring?"

Roman nodded.

"What are you gonna do about the letter?" she asked, and Roman asked in a hollow voice, "Got a quill?" One fluttered down to the floor in front of her, but it didn't come from Belle. Roman didn't notice.

She flipped over the letter and wrote in clear, broad letters on the back DO IT. Belle hung her head. Roman rolled up the letter, slid her mother's ring on her wedding finger, and stood up, eyes completely missing Lupin standing there, looking down at them with a sad expression. Roman walked quickly to the owlery and sent the letter with the same owl that had delivered it.

Back in the corridor, Lupin helped Belle up and asked, "Is everything okay?"

Belle knew that Roman never talked with anyone about her mother except her, and she thought that it would do her good for someone else to know about it. So in the corridor Belle explained everything: cancer, how there was no cure for it, how her parents had insisted Roman come back to Hogwarts even though Mum was so sick; she said how she had been having nightmares every night since the first letter, and explained what 'pull the plug' meant. Here his eyes widened, almost comically, but he didn't interrupt her. She continued and said that Roman acted everyday, since she wanted to be an actress, like it didn't bother her but she knew that it did, and how emotionally detatched she was. "That was her Mum's ring," Belle said, wiping her cheeks. "I'm gonna go check on her."

Lupin watched her go, too, and when Belle reached the owlery she saw Roman setting the owl out the window, the same letter tied to its leg. "Roman?" Belle whispered. Roman had her hands braced on the window, and her mother's ring glittered from her left hand, on her wedding ring finger.

"Tuck me in?" Roman asked quietly, and Belle, tears still streaming down her cheeks, nodded. Roman walked by her and up to the dorms, where Belle crawled in the bed with her. No one bothered them. Roman lay there, very stiff, and neither of them slept that night.

**Let me konw what you thought! Stay fabulous,  
~Paige**


	8. Chapter 8

**Ooh, emotions! Rising action! Conflict! Sorry, it's my English class. Lol. **

On Monday morning, Roman went to breakfast, dreading the morning post, and was extremely relieved to find that no owl brought news of her mother's death. She had a free period that morning, and decided to go to the library. When she went there, alone, she went to a table in the farthest corner, eager to spend some time alone. Roman saw a girl with rather bushy hair there, flipping madly through a thick book, and set her book down on the table.

"Mind if I sit here?" happy-Roman asked. The girl looked up, eyes wild, and quickly shook her head, looking back down. Roman sat for a long time, letting Hermione get back to the right place in her book. There were a few essays in her bag that a little extra work wouldn't hurt, but she didn't pull them out.

"Whatcha reading?" Roman asked, and Hermione replied, nose still a few inches from the book, "Hippogriff execution. Hagrid, the gamekeeper? Well, his Hippogriff, Buckbeak, is going to be executed if we don't do well on his appeal. It's not fair, they can't do this!" She looked rather worried, so Roman kept silent, leaning back in her chair. She hadn't slept well last night, either; her eyes were heavy and the last thing she felt like doing was reading, but she offered anyway, "Can I help?"

Hermione stopped and looked up, shocked. "You want to?" she asked, eyebrows raised. Roman nodded and Hermione shoved a book at her. "I'm trying to look for something to help Buckbeak," she said.

"Why're you doing this?" Roman asked as she flipped open the book.

"Malfoy," she growled, and Roman didn't need to know anything else.

For the rest of Roman's free period, they sat there, reading and writing dates and names down until she had to go to Charms. She bid Hermione good-bye, picked up her bag, and left the library. The other sixth years were going to their classes too, and Roman saw a few third years, among them Draco Malfoy and his two friends. He narrowed his eyes at Roman, who turned her face away, and started toward her as she walked down the corridor.

Roman sped by them and ducked in the Charms classroom before they could get to her. With a nasty look, they turned away.

In Charms that day, the students were practicing an advanced form of Cheering Charms. Roman thought this was rather easy, but as she was in a bad mood anyway she could not find it in herself to argue or question his teaching methods. Her partner cast the charm on her and she instantly smiled. The part that made it advanced was that you still could control your thoughts; your head wasn't just filled with sunshine and unicorns. So, after her partner had gotten the charm cast on her, Roman thought, _this will be very helpful in playing happy-Roman._

So, a huge smile plastered on her face, Roman made her way to DADA where Lupin sat on the edge of his desk, somberly watching the students filter in. Roman giggled a little when she tripped, and someone behind her asked, "Cheering Charms?"

"Oh, yes," Roman replied with a smile, hoping that Lupin would hear this and realize that trying to talk to her about what had happened the other day would be useless while she was still being affected by the Cheering Charm. Belle had told her it had been him in the corridor, and she had almost died of embarassment. It worked, and Lupin did not say anything.

Roman sat down next to Lionel, who grabbed her left hand and said, "Ooh, I like your ring. It's sparkly." Roman smiled and held it out in front of her, admiring it. The Cheering Charm had seemed to give her some of her acting ability back, and, completely aware of the fact that was Lupin was watching and within hearing range, said, "Oh, thanks. My dad bought it for me for Christmas." She reached down in her bag so that she wouldn't have to see Lupin.

For the first time all year, Lupin didn't seem happy to be teaching. A lot of people didn't take very good notes, as they weren't captivated as usual, and for the last few minutes of class, Lupin just let them talk. Jason tapped Roman on the shoulder and she turned around. _Cheering Charm_, she thought, _Cheering Charm._

"Hi, Jason!" she said, and gave a little wave just to be extra convincing. He smiled at her in a slow kind of dazed way. "Must be strong Cheering Charms," Jason said, and Roman shrugged. "I suppose," she said, still smiling. "So, Roman," Jason started, and it took everything she had not to roll her eyes, "this weekend is the last Hogsmeade weekend, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with-"

"Class dismissed!" Lupin shouted, and everyone looked around. The bell hadn't rung yet. "You may go," Lupin said tightly, and Roman, thinking that Lupin must've known what Jason was about to say, stood up and started toward the door, as well as the rest of the class.

"Roman, may I have a word?" Lupin asked as she stepped through the door. A few people cleared the door to make way for her and she walked up to his desk, still beaming.

"Did you see Leah's shoes?" she asked, hoping to distract him early off.

He frowned at her and pointed to the very front desk. "Sit," he said, and she did. "Am I in trouble?" she asked innocently, still smiling. She folded her hands on her lap, the epitome of a happy witch.

But Lupin knew she wasn't.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" he asked softly, but she kept her smile in place. "Why didn't you tell me? You could've told me." Roman cocked her head and narrowed her eyes. "Tell you what?" Lupin sighed. "You're too good at that. You know exactly what." His eyes flickered to the ring on her left hand, and she impulsively tucked it under her right hand.

Lupin sighed again and stood up from his chair, digging around in a cupboard. "Hot chocolate?" he asked, and Roman nodded. "Thank you," she said.

"You're in a good mood today," Lupin commented, getting a tea kettle full of hot water from nowhere. "We did Cheering Charms today," Roman said, wriggling excitedly in her seat. Lupin's hand slipped, and he slammed the tea kettle on the desk by accident. "Cheering Charms don't last that long, Roman."

She stared up at him while he finished making the drink, then handed her a cup. "Thank you," she said, more quietly. "That's a nice ring," he said as he passed the cup to her. "Was it passed down?" She glared at him as he sat down. "You know the answer," she ground out, not trying to act anymore.

They stared each other down for a long time, neither drinking from their cups. "Did you get a letter back from your father?" Lupin asked quietly, and Roman said flatly, "Belle told you."

"Everything."

"No, I have not gotten a letter," she said grumpily, leaning back in her chair. They were silent again for a long time as dark started to fall outside, and then Roman exploded. She jumped up from her chair and moved behind it, flailing her arms around and shouted. Lupin jumped at first, but watched her very carefully.

"Why do you even care, though? Why does it matter to you? No one is even supposed to know! And even if they do know, you don't just care about people like that! We don't even know each other! I appreciate this, really, I do, but why? You don't even know me and you care? Why?"

Lupin watched her for a long time as she paced behind her chair and then caught her breath. "Why?" she mumbled pathetically, nostrils flaring.

"I do care, Roman," Lupin said, and her stomach got unreasonably tight again, "I want to be clear about that. You... I care about you a lot more than I should."

Roman tilted her head to the side. "Why?" she whispered, and he gave a hopeless shrug, hands braced on the desk. "I don't know," he whispered back.

Roman had been thinking for a very long time about what would happen if she ended up with Lupin. Just... thinking. Daydreaming. But now the possibility of what she had thought about was closer than ever.

"My birthday is in three days," Roman whispered, "and I'll be seventeen."

Lupin looked up at her, and she saw something in his eyes, something like hope, but then he looked back down and she noticed that his hair was grayer than ever and that he looked very tired. "I'll be seventeen," she whispered again, and stepped forward.

"We shouldn't," Lupin said in a strong voice, and Roman shrugged. "I do things I shouldn't all the time. I put my hair up when it's still wet, and bite my nails, and eat way too many Sugar Quills, and sometimes I look off Belle's homework, and threaten people's lives." Lupin laughed weakly at that, and Roman shrugged again, hoping she was convincing him. "I do things I shouldn't all the time, but I'm okay," she said.

"You're way more than okay, Roman," Lupin said, looking fiercely up at her through his eyelashes, and her stomach squirmed. "You're much more than I deserve. And it's much too dangerous..."

He turned and started up the stairs that led to his office, and Roman asked, "Why's it dangerous? I'm of age!"

Lupin stopped halfway up the staircase and gave her a darkly amused look. "Are you saying you want this?"

Roman froze for a moment, casting around for an answer. "I'm saying I'm not sure what I want," she said desperately, "but don't give up on me yet. Why is it dangerous?" she requested again. Lupin waved a hand. "Come up here, and I'll show you," he said, and his voice sounded tireder than ever. Roman made to follow him, but they both froze when a distant yell carried through the window. Lupin dashed into his office, came back with a piece of parchment, then, dark eyes wild, shouted, dashing for the door, "Roman, go back to Gryffindor Tower! Now!"

She ignored his request and followed him out of the room, grabbing her wand from her bag. "What's wrong?" she asked, and as they left the room, unlocked, the confiscated Marauder's Map fluttered to the floor.

XOXOXO

"Roman, go back inside!" Lupin shouted over his shoulder again, but Roman did not listen and followed him out the doors.

"What's wrong?" she asked again, extremely worried, and followed him across the lawn. "Roman," he shouted, turning around and looking stern, "if you don't go back inside I'll scream for Professor Snape. Go!" She only stood there, and Lupin grabbed her around the waist, hoisting her long body over his shoulder.

"I'm wearing a skirt!" she shrieked, and he started back toward the castle. "Put me down! Remus!" she shouted, hoping the use of his first name would startle him into putting her down. He dropped her on her feet by the stairs and then immediately turned around, heading back across the lawn. Keeping silent now, Roman followed him.

At first Roman was startled by the fact that you could freeze the Whomping Willow, but Lupin did it and she snuck in behind him. The passage underneath the tree was long and dark and twisty, but Lupin seemed to know it by heart. When the tunnel finally sloped up the first thing Roman wanted to do was ask 'Are we in the Shrieking Shack, Professor?' but then remembered that she wasn't even supposed to be there and kept quiet. She followed him up the stairs and heard more and more voices as they went, and then Lupin slammed the door open and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

When Roman was finally able to see the scene in front of her, she recognized the hollow face of Sirius Black, laying on the ground with Harry Potter standing over him, wand pointing at his throat. Lupin nodded with his head, and Harry moved away. Roman walked in the room, wide-eyed, and her eyes moved to Hermione and Ron, Ron who was laying on the bed with what appeared to be a broken leg.

"Roman!" Harry shouted upon seeing her, and Lupin spun around, leaving Black on the floor. "I told you to stay at the castle!" he shouted at her, and then she edged by him and into the room. She stayed by the doorway. Lupin turned back around and stood over Black, who was looking up at him. Then, to everyone's amazement, Lupin bent over, pulled Black up by the hand, and embraced him like a brother. "Remus," Sirius said into his shoulder, clapping him hard on the back. Roman gasped.

"NO!" Hermione shouted, and they broke apart. "Hermione, wait-" Lupin tried to say.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" she cried, her dirty, cut-up face angry, "ALL THIS TIME I COVERED FOR YOU!"

"Covered for you?" Roman mumbled, confused, her own wand pointing at Black for no reason. Lupin couldn't bring himself to face Roman.

"I LIED FOR YOU AND YOU'VE BEEN HIS FRIEND!" Hermione shouted, and then looked at Roman. "Roman," she said, and everyone turned to look at her, even Lupin, whose eyes were very sad, "he's a werewolf, Roman, you believe me, don't you? That's why he's been missing classes!"

Roman stared at Hermione with a shocked sort of expression, and then she looked to Lupin, who hung his head. "That's why it's too dangerous," Roman mumbled in realization, and Lupin sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry, Roman. I can't drag you into this."

"Not now, Remus!" Black shouted. His crazy eyes turned to Ron, whose rat was squeaking wildly, and said in a excited voice, "We've finally found him. We've found him."

**Let me know what you thought! Stay fabulous,  
~Paige**


	9. Chapter 9

**KISSES! Mind you, I've never had one, so they probably won't be accurate. But, unlike Roman, there are some things I'm not willing to do. OOPS, I let something slip. Read on, lovelies!**

Snape was unconcious, Lupin was a werewolf, Ron's rat was really a man, and Black was innocent.

This was a lot for Roman to absorb in one day.

Lupin did not look at her the entire way out of the tunnel, but when they emerged everyone stopped to catch their breath. "I'm so sorry, Roman," he said quietly, and Harry asked, "Why do you keep saying you're sorry?"

Lupin ignored this, faced Roman with a brave expression, and said, "I'm going to be sacked anyway." She was about to ask if now was really the time to be worrying about his employment when his lips crashed onto hers and he grabbed the tops of her arms tightly. They both just stood there for a moment before there was an outraged yell.

"What are you doing?" Harry shouted, and Lupin stepped away, still holding Roman's arms, looking from her to Harry and back. "I- I'm sorry, Roman," he said. Her toes were still tingling from that slight pressure, and her stomach was tighter than ever, and she turned to Sirius, who was watching with a blank expression on his face.

"I want to help," Roman said, and Hermione said, "Get a bag full of things to survive!"

Everyone looked at her, but she waved a hand. "Go!" she shouted, and Roman tore back up the lawn and into the castle. When she turned around everyone down on the grass was frozen in shock, and she saw the full moon emerge from behind the cover of thick silvery clouds. Roman turned back around and tore through the castle, pushing by the few people to get to Gryffindor Tower as soon as possible on Hermione's orders.

Roman went up the stairs to her room where Belle sat, flipping anxiously through a Muggle fashion magazine. "Roman!" she shouted, jumping up, and Roman looked around to check that the room was empty. When she was sure it was, she shouted, "Belle, get a duffel bag! No questions!"

Roman tore over to her dresser drawer and started emptying the contents, trying to think of things that would help someone survive. There was a box of crackers in there, some food she'd snuck from the kitchens, candy that Jason had given her, Sugar Quills, scissors, thread and a needle. She threw all these things into a bag Belle supplied her with.

"No questions?" Belle asked, and Roman shook her head. "No. Survival things!"

Belle went to her own dresser and said, "Bandaids? Cough syrup? Itch cream?"

"Put it in!" Roman shouted, throwing extra socks in the bag.

"Are you in trouble?" Belle asked, even though Roman had said no questions, and Roman shoved the letters her father had sent her. "Deep trouble," she corrected, zipping the bag shut, "give these to Dumbledore. If anyone asks, threaten their life. If they ask again, I'm visiting my mother."

Roman started for the door, but Belle grabbed the strap of her bag and said, "Wait!"

Roman spun around, wide-eyed, intent on getting to Hermione to help Sirius in some way. Belle, standing by her bed in her Gryffindor pajamas, her blonde bob wild from running around and pale skin red with heat, suddenly looked so small, standing there by herself without Roman to hold her hand.

"Please be careful, whatever you're doing," Belle whispered, and Roman was appalled to see that she was crying. "I love you. Careful."

Roman hesitated for a long moment, then strode forward and hugged Belle tight. "I will," she promised, and then she was gone.

XOXOXO

"Where's Lupin?" Roman asked as she met Harry and Hermione on the lawn.

"You'll never believe it!" Harry said, reaching for the neck of Hermione's shirt, "We've fixed it, Buckbeak's alive-"

"What?" Roman asked, but Hermione waved a hand. "No time," she said, "Lupin's currently a werewolf in the woods and we've got exactly seventeen minutes to free Sirius and get back in the Hospital Wing."

Roman nodded and followed them over to a huge bush near Hagrid's hut, where the magnificent Buckbeak stood, glaring at them with his fierce orange eye. The three of them bowed, and after a long moment, he sunk to his scaly knees. Roman threw the bag over Buckbeak's shoulder and climbed up behind Harry and Hermione.

"Remember what Dumbledore said!" Hermione reminded him, and Roman asked, "You've been to see Dumbledore?"

No one answered her.

"Alright, there should be the window, if we do this right, Sirius can escape on Buckbeak and we can get back!" Hermione said, and a minute later they were hovering outside a small window with a miniscule ledge underneath. They looked inside and saw Sirius with his mouth wide open. "Alohomora!" Roman shouted, pointing her wand at the window. Sirius was finally able to open it and Hermione and Ron jumped onto the small ledge as he climbed on Buckbeak. Roman did not move. She had just seen a flash of a green robe go by the door inside the room that Sirius had just escaped, and she knew that any moment they would be doubling back, wondering why there was a hippogriff outside the window, especially when that hippogriff should've been dead.

"There's not enough time for me to get down there," Roman said, eyeing the ledge warily as Sirius got on the hippogriff in front of her. "How can I ever thank-" Sirius had started to stay, but Roman was afraid their voices would carry and said, "Shhh!"

"Listen," she told Harry and Hermione, who were slowly edging their way along the ledge to the window, where they would then get back to the Hospital Wing in plenty of time, "Belle and I have got it all figured out, no one even knows I was with you, there's not enough time, we have to go!"

She dug her heels into Buckbeak's flanks and he shot up into the sky, every second leaving Harry and Hermione to get smaller and smaller as she and Sirius flew away from Hogwarts. Back in the Forbidden Forest, a very distraught werewolf howled.

XOXOXO

Sirius now had control of Buckbeak's reigns as they sped over London, so Roman rested her forehead on his back and panted. "I've- run- too much today," she moaned, and Sirius made a sharp left. "Hold on," he said, and she did.

"What was your name?" Sirius asked, as though they were not now both criminals on the run. "Roman," she replied, trying to find a way to hold on to his waist that wasn't awkward. Either way, she was wrapping her arms around an escaped prisoner.

"That's an odd name," he commented.

"And Sirius isn't?"

"Well played."

"Does it not bother you that now we're both criminals on the run?" Roman shouted, and Sirius laughed. "We're as good as free now," he said, and the lights from the Muggle towns got dimmer and dimmer as they started to fly over the ocean. Roman hid her face.

They were silent for a long time, Sirius trying to look like he knew what he was going to do after this, and then he finally said, "So why did you do that?" Roman, who had been dozing with her face resting on his back, asked, "Wha?"

"Why did you come with me instead of going back to Hogwarts?" he asked. Roman snorted, as if this were obvious. "I didn't want to get caught, either."

"I could take you back to Hogwarts," he said, "I could just drop you off in the forest or something, and then leave again."

"Are you kidding?" Roman snorted, holding tighter to his waist as he made a turn, "The dementors are going to be everywhere. Ooh, I bet Snape's furious," she said. Sirius snorted too and said, "Git."

Roman reached around him and grabbed the bag, carefully unzipping the top and digging around. "Have you got food in there?" Sirius asked, and Roman nodded. "A little. And some soap."

He glowered at her.

**Let me know what you thought! Stay fabulous,  
~Paige**


	10. Chapter 10

**Long time, no chapters, I know and I'm sorry:( Alright, no excuses, we're just gonna jump right in. There are a few things that need to be explained:  
One, while getting the bag ready so she could run away with Sirius, Belle and Roman put things in there that magic could probably take care of. They included those things anyway because they're both of at least one Muggle parent, and it was a lot of pressure anyway.  
Two, when Sirius asks about the bag Roman says she has her "good looks". She wasn't originally planning on using that to their aid, it was something I just thought about adding. Whenever my sister or I want to buy something and we don't have the money for it, my mother sayd, "Well, what do you want me to buy it with? My good looks?" And that's what that is.**

* * *

Buckbeak was tethered underneath a clump of very tall trees, laying with his head under his wing as the rain beat down on the trees above him and the small formation of rocks that created the cave Roman and Sirius were hiding in. Sirius and Roman were huddled together, Sirius attacking the box of crackers Roman had given him. When he'd figured out that they had food, he landed immediately and they found a dry place.

Roman made a small circle far from the entrance of the cave and had started a fire there. Sirius moved over to it. The light cast shadows in the hollows of his eyes and threw wild shapes against the wall.

The place they were hiding could hardly be called a cave; there was barely enough room for them to sit up and have enough personal space without pitching headfirst into the fire. Roman pressed herself against the far wall while Sirius sat across from her, one hand in the box and another out to warm the fire.

Roman didn't know what to say. Lupin and everyone else, even Harry, seemed pretty sure that he was innocent, but what if he wasn't? There was the proof, Pettigrew was there, but how long would they have to hide before Pettigrew was caught again? To distract herself, Roman looked back down into the bag and saw that they were already dangerously low on food. There was a box of chocolate that Jason had given her- she hadn't eaten it for fear he would have laced them with a strong love potion, as he was rather good in Potions- and five Sugar Quills. She picked up a pair of black socks and held them tentatively out to Sirius.

"Dry socks?" she offered. He looked up, almost seeming to have forgotten she was there. He nodded once and took them from her, then put them on the ground next to him. "Thank you," he said in a hoarse voice, and coughed a few times before returning to the cracker box. Roman went in the bag and said over his loud coughing, "Here."

It was a bottle of pink cough syrup; Madam Pomfrey had just given her a whole bottle to keep when the entire girls' dorm had gotten sick. Sirius's eyes widened. "Did you bring everything?" he asked with half a smile. Roman shrugged. "I'm prepared." She shook the bag around and a few things rattled in there.

"Bandages, thread and a needle, scissors... My good looks." She looked outside. It seemed that they were on a mountain of some sort, and and way far out in a valley surrounded by trees, there were very dim lights starting to come on. The sun was rising directly across from the mouth of the cave, and everything around them took on a bluish hue. Roman crawled forward out of the cave and Sirius croaked behind her, "What're you doing? You can't go down there!"

Roman stood up, stretching her sore muscles. "I told you I had my good looks." Her voice had a desperate tone to it, and Sirius's eyes widened as he emerged from the rock pocket. "What?" he asked, and Roman, voice grim, said, "We can get food and money with that."

Sirius's mind only buzzed for a second- he was still high off being temporarily free- but then he realized what she was saying and grabbed her arm as she had started to move forward. "You- you're going to-? What? Be a _prostitue_?"

Roman stood there, staring up at him, and then shrugged once. "I'm an actress. Are you hungry or not?" She pulled her arm away and walked down the slippery, rocky slope, hoping she would be able to get to the little village before it got too late in the day. "Roman!" Sirius said, and she turned around once more. "Get back here!" he said, pointing at the ground. Roman wiggled her leg, felt her wand tucked in her sock, and laughed. "What?" she asked, and jumped down a few more feet. "Are you gonna come down here?" she taunted, and Sirius narrowed his eyes.

"I won't take _all _my clothes off," Roman said over her shoulder, "just enough to get some food- Aah!"

Something bit Roman hard in the back of her shirt and jerked backward. She stumbled a bit then turned around to see an enormous shaggy black dog, and then she remembered; Sirius was an Animagus. She sighed and let her head fall back as the dog rumbled at her. "Sirius, get back in the cave. Good boy, go!" she pointed and said, but Sirius only continued to growl in his chest.

"If you go into town like that, people will think you're a bear and you'll get shot. Do you want to get shot?" she asked, hands on her hips, and turned back around. _Don't turn around_, she thought.

Roman had almost gotten off the small mountain and to the edge of the village when she heard panting behind her. "Sirius!" she shouted, and spun around. "Go back up there!" she shouted, but he only glared at her- as much as a dog could really glare. "I'm Muggle-born, okay? I can do fine in a village. I'll be back before nightfall!"

And with that, Roman turned and ran the rest of the way, Sirius trotting behind her, trying to make himself look as much like a domestic dog as possible.

* * *

Roman, in all her days as an amateur actress, had never yet played a prostitute. It just wasn't classy- but that didn't mean it wasn't necessary. Regardless of Sirius walking behind her, she pulled her skirt up higher so that the top went under her shirt, folded the waist down, and undid a few of the buttons on her shirt near the top. Sirius growled, but she continued doing things like this. Roman pulled the tie out of her hair and it fell messily around her shoulders, and she fluffed it out so that her long bangs fell backward and stayed out of her face. That would have to do for now, and she could only hope that sweat wouldn't take the price down.

"Where to wait, where to wait," she said as she walked past a sign that created the town limit. However, the trees were so overgrown here that the name of the town was unreadable. Just as well.

There seemed to be only a single paved road going right through the middle of the small town, and a bunch of dirt roads branching off that and leading to small, run-down houses. For the small amount of houses, there were a lot of people in the town. They kept their faces straight forward as they bustled under the tattered awnings over shop display windows, that is, until they saw Roman with her dog. Sirius walked close to her side now, and growled at any man who passed by, looking at Roman with interest. Roman glared down at him.

Roman stopped for a moment, trying to get herself into an acting frame of mind, and thought about how a prostitue would act. First off, they wouldn't ask for food. They would ask for money. Roman could see a small general store a few shops down on the opposite side of the chipped street, and decided to ask for money. Secondly, they wouldn't be extremely concspicuous, would they? Being a prostitute could get you arrested. Not that it was a problem, a quick 'alohomora' would have her free, but still. So Roman walked over to the wall of a brick building with glowing lights in the window, pressed her back to it, and slid down, watching people walk by. Sirius stood guard beside her, so that no men got within twenty feet of her.

"This is ridiculous!" Roman shouted at Sirius, who was growling at a particularly interested-looking man who passed by. "Why do you care if I do it?" Sirius whipped around and laid his head in her lap. She could still feel him growling in his throat.

"Get off," she mumbled, pushing at his huge head, but he didn't budge. Roman leaned her head against the wall and crossed her legs. Her stomach rumbled right in Sirius's ear, and she said angrily, "You see? I'm hungry!" He looked up at her with big brown eyes, but she crossed her arms. He continued to look up at her, and just then a man in his his thirties approached her.

"Hey, lady," he said, and Sirius turned his gaze on the man. He took a step back.

"What can I do for you?" Roman asked in a high, girlish voice. He smiled as she stood up and left the dog standing behind her, and then moved a bit closer. Sirius barked.

"What's your name?" he asked Roman, and she said without thinking, "Joy." The man took one step closer and said with a smile, "Nice to meet you, Joy. So, uh," he looked around, hands in the pockets of his brown coat, "are you open for business, then, Joy?"

Roman nodded and took another step forward, so that they were about two feet apart on the sidewalk. "Surely am," she said, and Sirius bounded forward and grabbed the back of her skirt. She gave him an annoyed look that lasted for about a second and then smiled over at the man, who was eyeing Sirius apprehensively.

The man walked away and Roman shouted, "Come on! He was gonna give us money!" Sirius barked in her face again and then nudged her side with his head. Sirius barked and moved in a quick circle, almost knocking over a small child walking with her mother. "What?" Roman asked, and he looked straight at a shop across the street, but Roman didn't catch on. "What?" he asked, exasperated, "Did Timmy fall down a well? What?!"

Sirius barked again and grabbed her skirt, which was becoming increasingly drool-covered, and pulled her across a faded crosswalk. People stared as she was led across, and then Sirius stopped in front of a door with a sign that said ANIMALS with a red circle around it and a line through it. Then Roman looked at the window next to it, and a sign with bright green, blinking letters glowed there.

A pawn shop.

Sirius barked again and sat down under the window, apparently willing to be good if Roman went in there. "I haven't got anything to pawn," she said, moving the hand with her mother's ring behind her back. There were a lot of things she was willing to do, but sell her mother's wedding ring wasn't one of them.

Sirius snorted and wiggled his ears, and Roman shouted, ignoring the stares of the passing people, "Now is not the time to be cute, dog!" He barked again and heaved himself up on his back legs, then rested his paws on her shoulders, looking her in the eyes. As gently as he could, Sirius tapped her ear and she moved her hand up to block it, then felt the posts of the three earrings in her left ear poke into her neck. Her eyes widened and Sirius got down, sitting against the wall once more. Roman pushed the door of the shop open, and walked directly to the counter. A few people meandered around, looking at guns and radios.

A man with his hair slicked back in a black leather coat smiled at her, and she walked over to him. "How can I help you?" he said, and Roman spotted a thick rope of heavy gold chains hanging around his neck. Roman reached up to her ears and took out the pair of earrings in the top of her three holes. "I want to sell these," she said, putting them down on the counter. That pair in particular had been gifted to her by her favorite aunt. She had no children and therefore spent all her money on Roman and Natalie, so these studs were pure one carat diamonds in 14 carat gold.

The man picked up one earring while Roman very inconspicuously tugged on the hem of her shirt, so that the top came down lower. She pulled her hair over one shoulder and leaned forward on the counter; the man was rather short.

He examined the earring with a small magnifying glass on a chain around his neck and asked, one eye closed, "And did you want to buy or sell?" he asked, and Roman said, "Sell." He observed the earrings for a long time after that, turning them this way and that so that the bright light overhead caused it to throw sparkles, and he finally said, "I can probably get you about 250 pounds for this pair right here."

In her mind, Roman exploded. 250 pounds was a lot of money. But she wasn't done acting yet. She let her face fall, and she said, "Oh... Can't you go any higher?" she asked, sticking her bottom lip out. The man sighed and held his hand out for the earrings, which she reluctantly put in his hand. After another long look he leaned forward and said in a low voice, "If we polish this up, I could probably do 300 pounds, but I can't go any higher." Roman put a hand on the back of his and simpered, "Oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate it." He nodded and walked away from the counter.

"Go over in that line and you can get your money," he said, and Roman nodded once more. She walked over, stood in the back of the line, and waited for her turn to come up. The woman behind the counter, a black woman with very curly hair in a black shirt with the store logo on it said, "Okay, you sold a pair of earrings, right? 300 pounds?"

Roman nodded, and she pushed an envelope at her. When Roman picked it up, she could feel it was heavy with money. She didn't have to sign her name? No information? Great!

"Thank you," Roman told the woman, and she smiled at her. Roman, as quickly as she could, left the shop and looked to the left to find Sirius. He was sitting against the wall where she had left him, but a small girl in a pink dress, one hand clasped tightly in her mother's, was there, too. Sirius was cringing away, but the girl didn't seem to notice. She held out one hand and patted Sirius on his enormous snout, and Roman laughed. She walked over, slipping the envelope in her bra, and and said, "Hi, what's your name?"

The girl didn't answer, but instead asked in a painfully high-pitched squeak, "Is she yours?"

Roman called on her inner actress again and squatted down, looking in Sirius's face. "Yes, _she _is mine," Roman said with a sweet smile for the girl, and Sirius growled. "What's her name?" the girl asked, patting his ears now, and Sirius glared at her. Roman thought for a moment, then said with a straight face, "Sparkles."

The girl squealed and the mother, a woman with short red hair, asked, "Is Sparkles a rescue?" Roman sat down on the pavement next to Sparkles, aka Sirius, who was glaring daggers at her, and she nodded. "Oh, yes," Roman said, putting an arm around Sparkles, "I saved her from an abusive home." Roman leaned forward and whispered to the raptly-watching mother, "She still doesn't like umbrellas..." The mother nodded and Roman got an idea. The woman had a good sized purse on her shoulder.

Roman looked over at Sirius, who looked more angry at being called Sparkles rather than grateful that he had been rescued, and poked at his fur, which was rather matted and dirty. "I was going to go to the store and get something to bathe her with. I went in the pawn shop," Roman continued in a dejected voice, "but they said my earrings were fake, so I didn't get any money." She sighed. "Just have to wait for the next rain, Sparkles," she said to Sirius, who seemed to be playing along, and he slumped forward.

"Oh, no," the mother cooed, snapping open her red purse, "I just can't have that, here, you get this dog a bath and some food. She really is beautiful, imagine what she'll look like with a nice, shiny coat!" The woman shoved twenty pounds in Roman's hand. She widened her eyes for a moment, not wanting to seem too eager, and then said, "No, no, I couldn't, really-"

"I insist," the mother said, and the little girl gave Sirius one last pat before the mother scratched Sparkles' ears and then continued their walk down the street. "Good luck!" the woman called back, and the girl said, "Bye, Sparkles!"

Roman smiled down at Sirius, who only stared back, very stiff, as if daring her to say something. Finally Roman stood up and started walking toward the general store. When a huge, scary man passed their spot, Roman said, "Come on, Sparkles!"

* * *

**I know they could use magic to solve so many of the issues they're going to have, but then this wouldn't be any fun! Also I'm not sure how accurate my translation of currency was, it's an app I have on my iPod. Lol. Bare with me, I'm just American. Review, you beautiful people!**

**~Paige**


	11. Chapter 11

**Again, magic could handle a lot of this but that would be no fun:) Nosey Sirius, angry Remus, worried Belle, grieving father; oh, the drama!**

* * *

This store didn't allow pets inside either, so Sirius grumpily trotted over to a potted plant and layed down, closing his eyes. Roman went in the store, grabbed the handle of a trolley, and started down the first aisle. She grabbed almost anything that she knew wouldn't spoil- pasta in a cup, crackers that tasted like chicken, five different kinds of canned vegetables, and ten cans of ravioli. As long as they could build a fire, they would be able to cook this stuff. She lugged four jugs of water into the cart, and then a package of toilet paper and five bars of soap.

Roman walked around the store, grabbing anything it looked like they would need, and then she got to the very back of the store, where it was dimly lit, and saw racks of clothes. She thought about Sirius wearing his old Azkaban clothes and how looking normal would be of help if they were seen, and strolled over to the first clothes rack. Sirius was extremely skinny, so she bought three medium, plain black t-shirts and a pair of generic Muggle jeans. Then she got a shirt for herself so she could wash her school things and a pair of jeans.

When Roman proceeded to the check out, a Muggle boy was standing there. He had longish, curly blond hair and was very tall and skinny. He smiled at Roman and began sliding her things across the scanner as she put them on the counter.

"Rick, can I get you to start bagging this lady's stuff?" he yelled over his shoulder, and Rick came into view. He was the exact opposite of the first boy. Rick was short and broad and dark brown hair. "Yeah," he said, and began putting her things in plastic bags.

"Actually," Roman said, and she picked up a few reusable canvas bags, "can I buy these and use them?" The boy nodded.

When everything had been paid for and bagged, Roman was left with 88 pounds. She thought this was a fair amount, and as she had five more earrings to pawn if it came to that, one pair of them being solid silver hoops, so she took her reusable bags outside and looked to the right of the door, where Sirius lay. "Sparkles!" Roman said, and he startled. "Come on," she said, nodding her head to the left. She looked up the mountain to where she knew the cave was and saw that their cave wasn't visible from the town. Sparkles came up and took the handle of one of the bags in his teeth. They hurried past the people and out of the town limits, onto the unused paved road outside the shops. Roman walked a few hundred feet down this road, Sparkles on her heels, then dashed off the left side of the road and started the almost-vertical trek up the mountainside.

"Stay as a dog until we get up there," Roman told Sparkles, and he did. Finally they reached the cave, the sound of Buckbeak chewing on something helping them greatly. Even though he had been tethered to a tree, he had managed to catch a rabbit. Roman pushed all the goods inside the cave so that if started to rain again they wouldn't get ruined, and then she flopped down on her back on the leaf-covered ground, panting. She closed her eyes, stretching out her arms as they had cramped from carrying those bags so far, and then a shadow was cast over her face. She blinked her eyes open.

Sirius was looking down at her with tight eyes, and she stared back up at him. "You were willing to sell yourself to help me," he said in his scratchy voice, and Roman waited, because it seemed he had more on his mind. "You sold your jewelry to help me. You ran away from your school to help me. Why are you helping me? This makes you a criminal, too. You're an accessory."

Roman smiled up at him and laced her fingers behind her head. "It's just a new adventure," she said, and Sirius sat down beside her, cross-legged, picking at a hole in the knee of his pants. "You really are a good actress," he said with a faint smile. "You'll be famous someday. But you're an even better person," he said quietly, "for helping me. And I thank you for that. I can still take you back-"

"If I'm willing to become a prostitute, there's no going back," Roman said, and they both just sat there for a long time, looking up at the sky. "Are you hungry?" Roman finally asked, and Sirius nodded. Roman stood up and left Sirius there. She crawled in the cave, sat herself up as the roof was higher here, and grabbed the six pack of noodles in a cup, and then dragged out a jug of the water.

"I figure," Roman said, handing the jug of water to Sirius, "if we can find a pond at some point, or a river, we can bathe. I bought soap and I got you some new clothes." Sirius only looked at her, amazed, as she peeled the top off the cup of noodles, poured some water in, then heated it up with her wand, which she had stowed in her sock.

"I'll pay you back," Sirius said, and Roman, not hearing him, cursed. "I forgot forks!" she said, and handed Sirius his cup. "They're chicken flavor, I think," she said.

"I said I'll pay you back, Roman," he said, and she stopped. "You don't have to. This is feeding me, too." She tipped her cup back and spilled scalding water down her front, but was too focused on getting at the noodles that she didn't notice. Sirius, too, tipped his cup back and had half of the cup empty in the first swallow. Roman pointed. "There's more," she said, gasping a bit, and then drained her cup. She peeled open another one, as did Sirius, and heated the water she poured inside.

"Think Buckbeak can carry all this stuff?" Roman asked after her second cup was empty. Sirius said, "You can just shrink the stuff and put it in that bag." Roman nodded, then took a large swallow from the jug of cold water. Sirius did the same, then said, "This is the best I've eaten in months."

Roman frowned. "What did you eat before?"

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "You don't want to know," he said, and Roman didn't ask.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Roman asked Sirius, putting the lid back on the water and shoving it in the small cave space behind them. Sirius shook his head. "Nope."

For a long time Roman sat there and thought about what Belle was probably doing, if anyone at the school had believed the excuse as to why she had left, and her family. As soon as the word 'mother' crossed her mind, Roman's face went strangely blank before she could start crying. Wiping the canvas clean was part of creating happy-Roman, so she stared at the ground, thinking about the fact that she had gotten a lot of acting practice in today. Just as soon as she was starting to have happy thoughts, as suddenly as if someone had dumped it from a bucket five feet above her, rain poured down again.

In seconds Roman was completely drenched and so was Sirius. Buckbeak, under the cover of the thick branches in the trees, chewed calmly on his rabbit. "Come on," Sirius shouted over the rain, and held a hand out for Roman. She took it, and he let her go into the cave first. It was much easier for Sirius to get in than Roman, as he was extremely skinny, but Roman had trouble around the bust area.

Sirius pressed himself against the farthest wall of the cave, dragging everything they had bought that day back with them, along with the duffel bag, and Roman sat next to him. She was shivering uncontrollably, teeth chattering loudly and echoeing around the small cavern, and she raised a shaking hand to wave her wand at the spot where a fire had started before. This barely made a difference against the icy, torrential rains, and Sirius could tell. His clothing covered his arms and legs, tattered as it was, but this poor girl was in just a skirt and an Oxford shirt, neither of which were very thick. He knew it would have been inappropriate any other time, but as this was life or death, he put his arms around her and pulled her into him. She didn't seem to mind the warmth- her fingers, which had been curled into fists, groped to grab more of his shirt in the back and pull him closer to her, and she buried her face in his neck. "Oh, God," she moaned, shivering even harder as the wind blew the rain almost completely sideways and into the cave.

"There's gotta be a charm for this," she said through chattering teeth, but Sirius just patted the back of her head and said, "Shh. Just try and get some sleep."

"You, too," Roman said, curling her knees up so that they were digging into Sirius's stomach. He didn't care, though, and was just focused on keeping Roman warm.

* * *

When Roman woke up, it was much quieter outside than when she had fallen asleep. She stayed very still for a moment, trying to figure out why she was laying so weirdly in her bed, but then felt Sirius shift his arms so that they were around her shoulders, holding her to his front, and she remembered that she was a fugitive.

Roman slowly pulled away and searched around for her tie, which was laying in the duffel bag, and knotted her hair up. As if the emptiness of his arms had woken him, Sirius sat up. "You okay?" he asked in the dark of the cave. The rain had pelted the fire out, and the sun wasn't even visible yet. It could've only been about four in the morning. Roman had slept horribly.

"Yeah," she said, voice thick with sleep, and immediately her cheeks turned red. "Sorry... about... sleeping on you," she said lamely, and Sirius shrugged. "You saved my life, the least you deserve is to sleep on me." Roman thought his cheeks got darker, too, but couldn't be positive because of the dirt caking his entire body. She was sure she looked awful, too.

Roman grabbed one of the reusable bags, put the clothes she had bought in there, along with three bars of soap and the pair of scissors. "Bath time," she said tiredly, rubbing her eyes. "I think I saw a pond a little ways from here. Let's go look." Roman crawled out of the cave, mindful of her skirt, and waited for Sirius. When he emerged, he pointed behind the cave and started off that way. "Come on, I think it's this way."

The ground was relatively flat as opposed to the area in front of the cave, so the walking was rather easy. They were both silent the entire time, and finally, after tripping more than once, Roman stopped them both and said, "Shh! Do you hear that?" Sirius stopped and listened, too, and then nodded. "This way," he said surely, and after a moment of pushing through extremely thick branches, they came upon a rather large, long kind of pond. The water pooled in a circle here, and was supplied to the pond by a very small-scaled waterfall on the far right side of the small clearing. This waterfall was hidden almost completely by trees, the sunlight flashing off the tumbling water being the only thing indicating it was there.

And then Roman froze.

Sirius was peeling off his clothes, throwing them on the ground where they stood, and then he grabbed a bar of soap out of the bag and jumped into the stream. Roman looked away just in time, and Sirius laughed at her.

"What?" he crowed, splashing around in the water. "You've never seen a man naked before?"

"NO," Roman called back indignantly, as though he thought it was her own fault she had never seen a man naked before. Sirius dunked himself under the water while Roman just stood there awkwardly. She put the bag down and swallowed hard. Acting hadn't prepared her for this. There was no way to use special effects like Muggles used to make this any less real. When he emerged from under the water and Roman was still standing there, he laughed again, suddenly much cleaner. "Wasn't bath time your idea?" he asked, and Roman rolled her eyes. She felt very sweaty, and dirty, and like a bath would do her serious good, so she said, "Don't look!"

Sirius turned around in the water.

As quickly as she could, Roman removed her shirt and socks and shoes, and then moved forward into the water, still in her bra and skirt. Sirius heard the sound of tinkling water and turned around. "Not yet!" Roman shrieked, and she fell face first in the water in an effort to cover her body. Sirius chuckled again and tore open his box of soap. Roman stood up so that only her head was above water and shouted, "Git!"

He laughed again.

Roman grumbled and wet her shirt thoroughly before putting the bar of soap in it and folding the shirt in on itself, washing the dirt and sweat out of the fabric. Then, when she saw that Sirius wasn't looking, she removed her skirt under the water and scrubbed this clean, too. She swam over to the bank where grass grew right next to the water and laid her clothes out flat, not noticing the fact she was standing in front of Sirius in her soaked bra and underwear. Then she turned around and got back in the lukewarm water, wetting her hair thoroughly. At first Sirius was positive that he was going to get yelled at for seeing Roman naked, but she either didn't notice or care. Sirius tried not to look, but she wasn't doing much to hide herself.

She was rather tall, and looked like she had some nice muscles and strong, long legs. Long, brown hair and a huge bust, Sirius noticed, not to mention she had a beautiful face and was all around an amazing person, willing to sell that beautiful body just to help Sirius. He looked away when she turned around and felt his cheeks burn.

Sirius turned around, just standing there, staring down at the glassy surface of the water. The sun was just coming up, and the clouds were parting to reveal strips of pink and then reflected this back on the water. He listened to the water tossing around as Roman washed her hair and probably the rest of her, trying to keep from imagining it but wanting to at the same time. She was beautiful, there was no point in denying that, and she _had _to be close to seventeen and he had her _all to himself..._

Sirius shook his head, hoping up this would jumble up his thoughts and bring something more appropriate to the front of his mind. It didn't work. Sirius heard more splashing and saw that Roman was getting out of the water. He turned his back once more, and Roman used a drying charm on herself so that she could put on her new clothes without them getting soaked.

"Okay, I'm going back up so you can get dressed," Roman said and Sirius replied with a weak, "Okay!"

When she was out of sight Sirius looked down at the water at his reflection and saw how ridiculously long his hair had gotten. Cleaning himself up now would also probably help with Sparkles' coat (he was still angry she had told the woman that he was a female) so he swam over to the edge of the water, fumbled around in the tan reusable bag, and came back with the silver shears Roman had brought. Then he returned back to the middle of the pond, where he could still touch, and looked down at his relfection. He chopped off most of it, so that his hair hung a little past his shoulders instead of to his waist. Sirius dunked himself under the water once more, scrubbing everywhere with the now half-used bar of soap, and then got out, putting his clothes on without drying.

It was true that bath time made you feel better. For months he had been caked in dirt, too busy worrying about being an escaped convict rather than how he smelled. Now all he needed was something to eat and he was sure he would have a better night's sleep. Especially if it rained again, because then he would get to cuddle Roman.

When he made the short walk up to the cave he saw that Roman was sitting next to Buckbeak, stroking the feathers on his wing. "I think he's hungry, Sirius," she said, "the rabbits won't come around anymore. I think I'm gonna go walk him around to see if he can catch anything. I'll stay up here." And with that Roman stood up and undid the rope that kept Buckbeak tied to the tree, and walked off into the thick parts of the woods.

Sirius moved over to the low mouth of the cave and sat down, elbows on his knees. He dug around in the stuff Roman had bought and found a box of chicken crackers. He cracked these open and had just been debating on whether or not he should try to get closer to Roman when a sleek black owl, with what looked like multiple letters clutched in its beak, landed on a rock next to him. It hooted and stuck out its leg, wanting payment, and Sirius knew this must be a Hogwarts owl. How it knew where Roman was, he couldn't say. Sirius threw a cracker down for the bird and took the letters. He shouldn't have read them. He knew that. But he just couldn't help himself. The first letter of the stack read:

_I hope you get this, Roman, so you know to stay far away from Hogwarts. The entire school was shut down for the last few days, and now they've got the Ministry of Magic out there searching for you. They think Black has taken you as hostage. He hasn't, has he? I know you're strong and you're so much braver than anyone I know. Just please be careful. _

_I wrote to your dad and convinced him that you're staying with me for the summer. Natalie seems to be a bit suspicious, but I think we're in the clear. I've also stopped your subscription of the _Daily Prophet _from going to your house, so your father won't see everything that's going on with Black. _

_You were right. Snape doesn't believe the story. I... I told Dumbledore, I had to, Roman, after I talked to those friends of yours, the third years. They explained everything to me and said you said you'd be fine, so I told Dumbledore. He's not happy about it, however admirable he thinks your actions were, but has agreed to go along with the coverup story, that you went to see your mother. (Have you gotten any word on how she's doing?) Snape wanted to know why you couldn't last a few more days, and then Dumbledore said that there might not _be _a few more days, and then I left his office. I think we're in the clear. Maybe. _

_And finally, Professor Lupin has gone to pieces. I _told _you he likes you._

Sirius frowned. Remus, move in on a student? Admit to feelings for a student?

_At any rate, he's worried about you. He kept asking me, for hours on end, the same question over and over: Where is Roman? I told him that you went to see your mother, but he just said 'rubbish' and asked again. He's really quite scared. You know how he always looks so tired? Well, now he looks like he's come back from the dead. I told him you could take care of yourself in London, but I don't think he liked that idea very much, either. _

_Point is, you need to be careful. Black escaping is one thing, but now everyone thinks he's taken you as his hostage. If you can ever come back, you'll be the Girl-Who-Lived. Joking._

_I put some Muggle money in this envelope, in case that'll help you any. I know you can probably con yourself a fortune, my little actress, but it's the thought that counts. Be careful with that guy. Siriusly. Merlin, that was a bad joke. I'm so tired._

_I love you, Roman, and please be careful. Come back as soon as it's safe; Mum and Dad are in on it too, so you'll always have a home here. _

_Belle. _

This 'Belle' girl had scratched a heart underneath her name, and then when Sirius opened the envelope the letter had come in, twenty pounds fell out. Sirius put this back in the envelope, folded the letter, and stuck it back inside. Looking over his shoulder, Sirius grabbed the next envelope and carefully opened it, so that there was no sign of forced entry. This letter read:

_Ramona Whitney Michaels, how dare you run away with Black! I don't care if you were saving his life, I don't care if it means he would go back to Azkaban-_

Sirius rolled his eyes. _Thanks, Remus_, he thought.

_you DON'T- RUN- AWAY! Do you have any idea how terrified I was? How terrified I still am? And nobody will tell me anything! I asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but they refused to say anything. I asked Belle, too, but she gave me some rubbish story about you going back to London. And now you've got Dumbledore in on the trick? I've got half a mind to give Veritaserum to the lot of them!_

Sirius widened his eyes. Remus appeared to be so upset that his writing, the neatest of the four Marauders in school, was becoming increasingly illegible.

_And then I'll send _you _a Howler! How DARE you, Roman? I hope that the Ministry officials find you and Black, because I'm never letting you out of my sight again! I thought I made myself VERY clear that day in my office when I told you I cared for you. I also told you that you're much more than I deserve, but I don't care anymore. I just want you back. We can't be together-_ Sirius raised his eyebrows-_ now that you know what I am, but I just need physical proof that you're okay. Also, happy birthday. You're seventeen now._

_Write back as soon as you can, and you'd better hope I don't find out where you are. There's twenty pounds in this envelope, so get some food. I'm very angry at you, Roman, and tell Sirius I'm INFURIATED that he would do such a stupid thing like taking you with him. Take care of yourself. I care about you very much. Happy birthday._

_Remus. _

Sirius stopped for a moment, quickly tucked the letter back in the envelope, and then laid back, fingers laced behind his head, eyes closed. There was another snap of a twig, and Sirius opened one eye. It was just a deer; he could see its white tail flitting through the overgrowth of trees. For another long moment Sirius stayed still, but then sat up and grabbed the last envelope. Already his stomach was sinking with guilt, but he had already read two. Why not the last one? It read:

_Hi, Ramona. I'm glad you're staying at Belle's for the summer. It'll be good for you to stay there. _

_I got your reply. I'm so sorry that I have to tell you all of his through letters, but I don't want you to see this in person. It's bad enough Natalie has to, but I'm glad you can get away from it._

_The head doctor and I had another long talk this morning, it'll probably be a few days till you get this, so I want you to know that it's done. He explained everything one more time, gave us a while alone with her, and then he stopped the machine. Mummy's gone._

Sirius froze here, eyes stuck on those two words: Mummy's gone. First Roman was risking her entire school career and life, relationship with a man who clearly cared about her, risking going to Azkaban for being an accessory to a crime, and now her mother was dead? Did this girl ever _stop_?

_It wasn't painful for her, Ramona. They told us she was hurting more when she was alive than she is now. And, although I'm shocked, Natalie didn't even cry. She just held her hand, and mine, and she didn't cry. She told me, on the car ride to school the next morning, that she was sad Mummy was gone, but she was happy she wasn't hurting anymore. And she isn't. _

As usual, in every letter, although Sirius didn't know it was usual, teardrops splattered the page here, but there weren't nearly as many.

_Just... worrying about this has been so tiring. For all of us. And even while she was awake, Mummy was planning things out, so that we'd be okay after she was gone. She could feel it coming. Remember how she was so tired all the time, but she could never fall asleep? Because she hurt too much? She's finally gone to sleep now, and I can't think of anyone who deserves it more. _

_We're just going to have a small funeral. Stay with Belle. Don't come here. It's bad enough Natalie has to see it. And, like I said, it doesn't matter if you become an actress or not. Your mother will always, always be proud of you. And so will I. You're so brave, my Ramona, I love you so much. Please, don't worry about us. I'll see what we can do about meeting a few days before your next year at school. Maybe we could go to that ice cream place in... what was it? Dragon Alley? We could go there. _

_I love you, Ramona, and so does Natalie. And Mummy. Have a good summer. Hello, Belle!_

_Dad_

Sirius definitely heard footsteps this time, and Buckbeak made a kind of funny cawing sound, so Sirius, movements still a little slow with shock, tucked the letter back in the envelope, folded the top down, and then put them in a stack on a dry rock a few feet away from him. He grabbed his cracker box, opened the top, and waited, stiff.

"He got four rabbits, can you believe it?" he heard, and Sirius gave a weak laugh. Roman came over and sat down next to him, reached her hand in the cracker box, and said, "That was a refreshing walk. Just kidding. Some squirrels jumped me."

Sirius couldn't bring himself to smile this time. "You got some mail," he said quietly, and Roman looked over at the rock to where he had gestured.

"How do these owls know where to find us?" Roman asked in wonder as she retrieved the envelopes. If she saw any sign that Sirius had read them first, she didn't show it. She read quickly through the one from her friend Belle first, then pocketed the twenty pounds.

"Anything going on?" he asked lightly, and Roman shrugged. "We have to stay far away from Hogwarts. The security down there must be mental..."

Sirius nodded and discreetly watched Roman's face as she read Remus's letter. Her expression remained neutral, and at the end of the letter she snorted.

"Better hope I don't find out where you are," she mocked, and Sirius frowned. "Who's that from?" he asked, although her already knew the answer. Roman replied, "Professor Lupin. He's worried that you've taken me hostage."

"Maybe I have," Sirius said, elbows still on his knees, and Roman looked up from her letter. "What?" she asked, confused.

"Well, if I've taken you hostage, you won't get in trouble if we get caught."

"We won't get caught."

"You didn't seem so sure yesterday."

"Well we're doing fine now!"

Sirius rolled his eyes again, but his insides tightened. Roman had justed opened the letter that bore the news of her mother's death. He wondered what he should do if she started crying.

Again, Roman remained expressionless as she read this letter, and then, as if she wasn't even affected by the loss of her mother, put the letter back in the envelope and tucked the lot of them in her bag. Sirius frowned. Was she really that good of an actress?

"Who was that from?" Sirius asked curiously. Roman said, looking straight at him, "My dad. He thinks I'm staying at Belle's for the summer."

Sirius asked slowly, "Is that all?"

Roman nodded and then gave him a quick smile. "Hungry?" she asked, but Sirius shook his head. The guilt and sympathy filling his stomach was more than enough.

* * *

**Thoughts? Love? Hate? Your middle name? Doesn't matter, just tell me what you thought:)  
P.S., my middle name is Marie.**


	12. Chapter 12

Although she had tried not to show it, Sirius could tell that Roman was hurting. She didn't eat very much; Sirius had to threaten her with actually being kidnapped just to get her to eat her cup of noodles, and after that she sat silently on the ground, staring up at the sky. Sirius noticed that she was fiddling with the ring on her wedding finger, and figured it was probably her mother's. He frowned again and tried to look away. Buckbeak chewed happily on a red squirrel he had caught. Birds chirped around them as the sun went down, and slowly navy blue took the place of the pink hue that had filled the sky after a light rain, and tiny white sparkles marked the stars that hung there. Roman wasn't her usual talkative self, but she didn't mope either. She just sat there, staring up at the sky as it became more and more filled with stars. Sirius looked on, too.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed," Roman said quietly, and Sirius looked up at her. She didn't smile, or frown. She wasn't looking ready to burst into tears, nor did she look angry. Just... unaffected. "Okay," Sirius whispered back, as if too loud a sound would break her entirely. She squeezed in the small cave opening, and Sirius got up to follow.

"Mind if I start a fire?" Sirius asked quietly, and Roman shook her head, handing him her wand. Sirius turned his back to her and when he finally sat down under the low cave space, he saw that she had pulled on a pair of the jeans she had bought. Her face an indifferent mask, Roman lay longways in the small cave, flat on her back, and closed her eyes. Sirius, sitting against the cave wall with his elbows on his knees, soon fell asleep.

* * *

Sirius woke up to the sound of retching. He froze for a moment, trying to figure out where he was, and then noticed that Roman was gone from the cave. He quickly pushed himself through the low opening of the cave and looked up. It was still rather dark outside; the sky was blue and the trees and everything around him, including Roman's profile, were only shadows. She was currently leaned over a rock to their right, emptying the contents of her stomach in a hole she had dug. Sirius cringed at the gagging. It sounded like it hurt a lot. He didn't know what to do- should he offer to help her, or pretend like he'd never seen it?- so he stood there awkwardly, blinking the sleep from his eyes, while she continued to vomit.

Finally, after longer than Sirius thought was possible for anyone to puke- how could her stomach even hold that much?- she gave a few sharp gasps and stood up. She was panting now.

"Roman?" Sirius said tentatively, and Roman spun around, face pale. "Did I wake you up?" she asked, and he shook his head, although she did. "You should go back into the town and get yourself some medicine," he said, but Roman shook her head. "Naw," she said, and she retrieved the almost-empty water jug from the cave. "I'm not sick," she said, grimacing.

Her mother was dead. But she hadn't had a nightmare about her mother. Oh, yes, she had remained rigid all night and was covered in sweat even though she was cold, but she hadn't had nightmares about her mother pleading with her to save her life, asking her why she was letting them do this to her. In this nightmare, the light around them was so bright that the edges of the people were blurred, but that wasn't why her father was stumbling around. He was clutching his chest, corners of his mouth pulled down in a pain-filled grimace, crying for his wife, his only love, to come back to him. Roman was nowhere to be seen in the dream, it was as if she were watching it through a television screen, and so she had to watch Natalie curled up on the ground, face in her knees, bawling. She knew that Natalie, like Roman, wasn't prone to showing her feelings outwardly, but that didn't stop Roman's mind from creating this horrifying image. Mother wasn't in the dream, either, and for that she was grateful.

"You're not?" Sirius asked, "Then why did you throw up?"

Roman shrugged, frowning. "I don't know."

They were both silent for a long time, and then Roman dragged everything out of the cave with Sirius's help. "Here's what I think we should do," Roman said, and Sirius listened intently, because it was Roman that had gotten them this far. "Could you shrink this stuff?" Roman asked Sirius quietly, handing him her wand, and he obliged. "I don't think we should stay in one place for too long," she said, "because the Ministry has got to be looking for us everywhere. We should go very far away from Hogwarts, so the security around the castle will be lifted."

Sirius nodded.

"So maybe we could go somewhere _warm_," Roman said, glaring at the sky, which was a stormy gray mass of swirling, heavy-looking clouds, "because I haven't been completely dry for days. But before we leave here, we should write back to everyone and then leave." Roman wrinkled up her nose as Sirius put the last of the cans in the duffel bag, on top of the Sugar Quills and box of chocolates (probably filled with love potion) Jason had gotten her. Roman wrinkled up her nose. "Got a quill, by any chance?" she asked. Sirius shook his head.

Roman dug around in the bag, looked in the side pockets and every zipper, and finally she came out with a broken, frayed quill. "Ha!" she said, and Sirius ruined her joy by saying, "What're you gonna do about ink, then?"

Roman's face fell.

"I'll use mud!" she said defiantly, and for the first time in a very long time, Sirius truly, genuinely laughed. The kind that made his stomach tense up and wrinkled his nose, and was so powerful that no sound came out until at last he had to take a breath, and it sounded like a bark.

"What was that?" Roman asked, laughing herself, and before Sirius knew what he doing he had leaned over and embraced Roman hard around the shoulders. She didn't freeze or scream "Pedophile!" like he had expected her to, but instead hugged him back, snorting. "That was supposed to be laughing?" she asked, and Sirius nodded, still a bit surprised by the fact that he had hugged Roman. Maybe Remus _wasn't _so crazy to be in love with her. She was amazing.

"Get me some mud," Roman requested as she pulled away from him, and he scooped up a handful from beside him and plopped it at her feet, still grinning. She gasped; the mud had splashed up on her white shirt. Sirius shrugged, the happiest he had ever been since school. "You said to get you some mud," he said, and Roman narrowed her eyes, still smiling a bit.

"Who should we write back to first?" she asked, and Sirius cautiously moved over so that he could look over Roman's shoulder. He saw that she was purposely covering the letter from her father.

"Do your friend first," Sirius said, "and ask if she can send us the newspaper every time it comes out. We could do with the updates."

Roman nodded, flipped over the parchment, and hesitantly stuck her quill in the mud. "Ew," she said, and Sirius laughed again.

Roman wrote:

_Dear Belle,_

_I can't tell you where we are in case this letter is intercepted, plus I have no idea where we are. I am begging you not to show this to anyone OR to tell Lupin anything you hear from me. Stay strong, or I will hide your dead body in the Forbidden Forest and tell your parents you ran away. I've done it before. I'll do it again._

_I'm doing okay- we're doing okay. Sirius did not take me hostage. I chose to go with him. Well, I didn't really choose, it was either that or get caught by the teacher pasing by the room when we snuck Sirius out the window- but you don't need to know that. Like I said, burn this when you're done reading it. Point is, we're alright. I conned a guy out of 300 pounds! Aren't you proud? We're eating alright, we've got a cozy little cave, and we've bathed. It's not really that bad, being a fugitive. But don't try it. It's bad. _

_Okay, here's your checklist: burn this letter when you're done reading, don't show it to Remus, and stay with the story about my mum. And just so you know, everything's fine. She's actually getting better._

Sirius frowned and looked over at Roman's face. She was writing with a small smile on her face, but Sirius couldn't understand why.

_We're moving locations now, and make sure you change owls when you write back, because we don't want it to be recognized as going way to nowhere twice. Thanks for the money. I'll write back as soon as I can. Love you, Belle. Sirius says hello._

_Roman and Sirius_

Roman signed Sirius's name. Writing this letter took twice as long as a normal one would have, because the quill was shabby, Roman wasn't writing on a flat surface, and she had to dip her quill in her mud every two seconds.

"You know this probably will smudge as soon as we roll it up, right?" Roman said, and Sirius shrugged, still thinking about Roman lying about her mother. "It's the thought that counts," he said.

Roman set this on the flat rock next to her, careful to keep it out of the mud, and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We have to write to Remus, now, don't we?"

Sirius shrugged. "He'd probably appreciate it," he said, and Roman nodded again, sighing. "Here we go," she said, and wrote:

_Remus John Lupin, how dare you acuse me of running away! It wasn't as if I had planned it all along! It's not like we're running off to elope-_

"He'll love that," Sirius said with a smirk.

_or something! Stop worrying about me! I'm fine! But then again, I'm writing with mud... Some ink and quills, please?_

_Anyway, we're not starving, or freezing, or dying. Actually, I conned a guy out of 300 pounds! Woo! Are you proud? And thanks for the 'happy birthday', it was a right laid back get-to-together, I spent it in a cave. _

_Belle tells me you're interrogating her through owl post. Why would you do that? She doesn't know anything! And leave Harry, Ron and Hermione alone, too, they didn't ask for this to happen._

At this point Roman shifted so that Sirius couldn't see the parchment, and he took it as a sign that she wanted to write the next thing in private. She tore off the bottom of Remus's long letter, as her reply wouldn't be as long, and handed it to Sirius. "For Harry," she said.

_I've been thinking a lot about when you kissed me, Remus, (is it okay if I call you that?) and I've decided I don't mind. It was actually kind of nice._

_And if you tell anyone I said that I'll kill you and hide your body in the Forbidden Forest along with Belle. _

_But seriously, it was nice. First time I've ever kissed anyone, so you can be proud of that. Under the circumstances, it was a bit rushed, but then again you were about to burst into a werewolf, so maybe it was good you didn't take your time._

_And as for the werewolf thing, it doesn't bother me. I don't care. Remember how in your office, you said it was too dangerous? Well, look at me now. I'm a fugitive. My name is Roman Danger Michaels. You being a werewolf doesn't affect the kind of person you are. You're still sweet, and considerate, and smart. Attractive, too. And I promise I'll be okay._

_Sirius is pretty cool. When he's a dog, his name is Sparkles. It's a long story, but in the end I conned a sympathetic woman and her daughter out of forty pounds, so it has a happy end. _

_Like I said, don't worry. We're fine, and I'll be back as soon as I can. We just have to find a way to prove Sirius innocent, so if you come up with anything let me know. Or he could spend the rest of his life as Sparkles. The girls would love him. _

_So stop harrassing my friends, quit screaming at people, and keep an eye out for anything helpful. I'll write you when we get some more parchment, or if anything new happens. Which it probably won't. We sleep in a cave. I won't tell you where we're going, but it'll be somewhere warm. We're actually leaving now. So I'm gonna help Sirius pack the rest of the stuff up (we went shopping) and then take Buckbeak for a ride. _

_Take care of yourself, Remus. We're okay. Sirius says hello._

_Roman and Sirius_

Roman put this letter aside and waited for it to dry, and then stood up along with Sirius. "Your turn to use the mud quill," she said, and Sirius quickly scribbled a short message. Roman saw him write a permission slip for Harry to go to Hogsmeade. Roman smiled.

"Ready to go?" she asked, and Sirius nodded. "Are you going to write back to your father?" he asked, and Roman shook her head. "It's better he just doesn't know about anything."

Roman heaved the bag up on Buckbeak's back after they had untied him from the tree, tucked her wand in her sock, and then folded the letters up to send the next time they came across a post owl. As Roman was securing the bag to Buckbeak, she felt hands grip her around the waist. Her hands immediately went to his and she tried to turn around. "Just giving you a foot up," Sirius said, and Roman swung her leg over Buckbeak's back. Sirius got up behind her and Roman gave him the rope they had been using as his reigns.

Sirius tried not to think about how closely he was pressed against Roman and looked up at the sky. "Think anyone'll notice? It's kinda cloudy," Sirius asked, and Roman, trying to find a way to hold on to Sirius while he was behind her, said, "If you go high enough the clouds will cover us. Ready?" she asked, and Sirius nodded. "Ready." He pressed his heels into Buckbeak's flanks, and they were off, Roman nestled snugly into Sirius's chest.

* * *

**Thoughts? Hate it so far? Favorite song? (Mine is a tie between Check It Out by Nicki Minaj and will. & Mercy by Kanye West) Anything is welcome:)**


	13. Chapter 13

Roman and Sirius glared at each other from the opposite sides of the cave that was smaller than the first one they had been in. Glaring from the opposite sides of the cave wasn't really working, as, although it was rather high, Roman was practically sitting in Sirius's lap. Buckbeak was tethered outside, under the cover of some trees, while, much like last time, it was raining.

Their plan to go somewhere warm had failed miserably. They had flown quite easily over a large body of water, and at this point Roman was wondering what continent they were on, and the trip was going rather nicely. Sirius was telling Roman about a time in school when he, James, Remus, and stupid Peter had charmed the girls' bathroom signs to read 'boys' so that they couldn't be blamed for going in when Roman shouted, "Airplane!"

Sirius flew Buckbeak hard to the right, so that a particularly thick cloud hid them before they could be seen and then landed them immediately so that something like that wouldn't happen again. It had been four days since this had happened. Four _dreadful _days.

The first day in their new setting went alright. They scouted around, Sirius in Sparkles form so that if anyone found them they wouldn't see a fugitive, and tried to find a town where Roman could get more money, because they were getting rather low on food. They found one, but hadn't gone yet. Apparently the people here were very afraid of mass murderer Sirius Black, and they had cameras everywhere, interviewing people and broadcasting news. Then, three days later, the cameras hadn't lessened but the supply of food had. There was one can of spaghetti left. They were trying to hold out as long as possible, but both of their stomachs rumbling sounded like distant thunder.

"I can go by myself," Roman said anxiously, looking at the single can sitting at their feet. Sirius shook his head, also staring at the can. They were both silent for a long time amd then Sirius said, "Wanna split it?"

There was a very pregnant pause, and then they both grabbed up the can.

"I can't-" Roman grunted, "get it- off!"

Sirius took the can from her, both of their eyes wild with hunger, and used his bare hands to rip the top off it. For the moment Roman had forgotten she was a witch and the Sirius was a wizard and they had a perfectly good wand in her sock and plunged their hands into the can, eating the stone-cold spaghetti with their bare fingers. Sauce splattered everywhere and they growled, trying to get the last of it from the can. Sirius let Roman have the can to lick out, and then they leaned back against their respective cave walls. The cave was only four feet wide, so they didn't have much leaning to do.

"That was good," Sirius said, looking longingly at the empty can.

Roman looked over, too, and panted, "Remember when that spaghetti was still there?"

"Yeah, those were good times."

"I agree."

They sat in silence for another long stretch of time, alternating between glaring at each other because they each thought the other was the reason there was no food and staring at the empty spaghetti can. Finally Roman stood up and, quite unlike last time, didn't hit her head. Not caring that she was only in a skirt once more, she said, "I'm going into town and selling another pair of earrings." She heaved herself up on the small ledge and rolled out of the short, wide cave opening and dropped down. The cave was sort of like a tower in the fact that the floor was lower than the entrance. Sirius stood up and got out behind her. The cave they had chosen was only one in an entire wall of rocks, and was well hidden from sight, as they seemed to be deep in the woods on another mountain. "Are you sure you can go alone?" Roman gave him a sarcastic look, and he nodded.

Roman walked away from the rock wall and cave, and she made the long trek to the smallish town they had seen while on Buckbeak. She hoped that no one would have her picture yet, as an accomplice to Sirius Black, and just decided that she would have to become a full-blown actress in seconds if they had.

Roman, although she knew she could handle herself just fine, felt a bit nervous stumbling onto the pavement without Sparkles behind her. She would never admit to this, of course, but her stomach tightened up, and not like when Remus stood close to her. She kept her face down as she walked by the few people on the street and looked around for a pawn shop. This town seemed to be bigger than the one before, but with less people. A lot of the shops, although it was the middle of the day, had no lights on and others looked to be closing up. Roman was rushing up the streets now, desperate to get some food. She was sure she looked a mess, but would use the starving child role if that was what it took. Or prostitue. She could do that. Sirius wasn't here now.

Roman turned the corner of the dusty sidewalks, dodging around a barber with a broom, and stopped short. She saw a camera crew, including a woman in a bright red blouse and skirt with stiff blonde hair and tried to run in the other direction, but not before they saw her.

Roman's inner actress was once more failing to produce any ideas right then, and she kept running, hoping to come up with something along the way.

"Miss!" they called after her, and Roman made sure to keep her face well hidden as she went past the man with the broom again. She wasn't fast enough, though, and then woman clamped a strong hand around her shoulder, spinning her around. "Miss! Could you give us a word on how you're feeling about the lack of information being given out about the mass murderer Sirius Black and his accomplice?"

Roman died inside. So she was being marked an accomplice. "I don't know," Roman edged, quickly making her voice higher, like when she had become Joy in the first town. "What does she look like?"

The woman wasted no time in producing a picture of Roman, one of the days when she had worn her hair down, standing with Belle, who had been cut out. She could only tell because Belle's slender hand was on her shoulder. Roman was almost positive Snape had found a way to give this to the media.

"This is her. Can you give us any information?" the woman in red asked while her camera men rolled their film, and the woman shoved a microphone in Roman's face. "Don't know anything, be sure to tell you if I do, though," Roman said, trying to run away.

"You look like this girl!" the woman suddenly said, and asked, "What's your name?"

Roman didn't even think about what she said. "Joy Lupin," she said, and the woman nodded suspiciously. "So, Joy, what do you think about children walking places on their own? Are they possible targets-"

"Sorry, really got to go," Roman shouted, and she tore down the street and pushed herself in the first door she saw. When she caught her breath and opened her eyes, there was a large woman behind a counter smiling at her. She had light red hair pulled in a clip on the back of her head, and had an apron over her blue dress. Roman looked around while the woman asked, "Reporters find ya, eh?"

Roman nodded slowly and cheered on the inside. She was in a jewelry shop. Roman immediately reached up and took out her second pair of earrings. This pair was even bigger than the last, given to her by her father. It pained her to part with them, but the pain in her stomach was worse.

"Do you buy?" Roman asked as the woman wiped off the glass counter. The woman had a nametag that read Ellie. Ellie narrowed her eyes and held out a short-fingered hand in which Roman dumped the earrings. She held them up and examined them without a magnifying glass.

"400 pounds," the woman said shortly, and Roman eagerly nodded. This shop was much smaller than the last, with red walls and black carpet, and the woman reached in a pocket in her apron and handed her 400 pounds. Roman gave her the earrings, backs and all, and she said, "Thanks."

Ellie nodded once, still wiping down the counter, and asked, "So, who're you?"

"Joy Lupin," Roman said, sticking to her first story. The woman stuck her hand out and Roman shook it. "Any reason you're coming by this hick town?" Ellie asked, and Roman shrugged, her actress coming out now that she had a new character. "Just doing some traveling," she said, "thought I'd come somewhere without a bunch of people, you know? But anyway, I was getting a bit short on cash, so... Here I am."

Ellie nodded and so did Roman, and they shook hands once more before Roman left, money feeling good in her hand.

The bell tinkled as Roman stepped out the door, and she looked to the left and saw the same camera crew trying to get an interview out of an elderly man with a cane, and then she looked to the right and saw that the grocery store was open. With another painful rumble of her stomach, Roman dashed to the left, past the camera crew, and up the hill once more, toward the rock wall that stood high above the poorly grown trees.

She looked hurriedly around for Sirius, clutched the money harder in her hand, and then saw a flash of white close to the ground. She shrieked, but then the rabbit darted away and she clapped a hand over her heart.

"Roman?" Sirius asked, and Roman rushed toward the sound of his voice. He was standing there, outside the cave, wringing his hands.

"Are you okay?" he asked as she walked toward him, "I was so worried!"

Roman waved a hand. "I'm fine," she said, "but we have a problem."

"Come inside!" Sirius said, and he reached out and gently grabbed her hand, pulling her toward him. She frowned a bit at this, and when she looked up at him again she noticed the soft look in his eyes, the faint smile on his mouth, and frowned more. Sirius heaved himself in the cave first and then helped Roman in.

"I'm sorry I didn't get any food, there's a camera crew down there and they've got a picture of me," Roman started, but Sirius crushed her to his front in a bone-snapping hug and rocked her back and forth, arms pinned to her sides. She froze. This wasn't like the hug they had shared a few days before, like when they were both laughing and in good spirits. Something was wrong.

"Sirius?" she asked, afraid at once that this was not at all Sirius and a Ministry official charmed to look like him.

"Roman," he sighed dreamily.

Roman pushed Sirius away and asked quickly, "What's the name I gave you when you were a dog?"

"Sparkles," he sighed.

Roman frowned again. Was the lack of food making him... dizzy?

"Are you okay?" Roman asked, putting a hand on his arm, and he smiled widely up at her, blinking slowly. "I am now that you're here, Roman. I don't care how hungry we get, as long as we're together."

He pulled her forward in another hug and she glared at the floor behind him. "Sirius," she asked, "what's gotten into you?"

He pulled away and said, close to her face, "I love you, Roman."

"What?" Roman shouted, standing up. She was lucky that the ceiling of the cave was rather high, otherwise she would have busted her head open. "You do not!" she yelled, glaring down at him. "But I do, Roman," he said quickly, standing up with her. "Want me to prove it?" He leaned forward and tried to kiss her, but Roman clapped a hand over his mouth and pushed him away.

"No!" she said. "But I love you, Roman," he said, wringing his hands again, as though he was afraid of rejection. Which he most certainly was going to get.

"Oh, Roman, this came for you, too," Sirius said, and pointed to an owl sitting on the floor with a letter in its beak, "I didn't mean to read it, are you mad? It wasn't even covered up, so it wasn't my fault, but I still love you."

Roman hated what she was about to do, but thought that if she just agreed with him he would shut up. Sitting down on the floor, next to the brown owl, she said slowly, "Yeah, I love you too."

With a dreamy sigh, Sirius sank to the floor and rested his head on Roman's shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist. She squirmed for a bit, and then dug around in the bag, which felt even emptier than usual, to find the letters she was going to send. The paper that had been sent with the owl was from Belle. It only had two words: _REPLY SOON_

Roman secured the letters to the owl and sent it out the cave entrance. Then she turned to Sirius, whose eyes were wide.

"Sirius!" Roman said, and he eagerly replied, "Yes?" She turned in the cave so that they were both sitting Indian-style, face-to-face, and she grabbed his hands. "Look at me," she said forcefully, and then continued, "They have our mugshots, Sirius, and everyone's looking for us!"

"Why?" he asked, and Roman had to try very hard not to slap him. "What is wrong with you?" she asked, letting go of his hands. He looked heartbroken, an emotion that was so very wrong on the former heartbreaker of Hogwarts. "Are you mad at me?" he asked, and Roman sighed. "No, I'm not mad. But we have to make some changes. Pull that bag over here."

"Anything, my love," he said sweetly, and Roman gave him a strange look. She dug around in the pitifully empty bag and said that something was missing. She couldn't tell what it was quite yet, but she knew it felt wrong to have her hands in there without the-

The box of chocolate!

"No, Sirius!" she moaned, suspicions already confirmed. The box of chocolate that Jason had given her- the chocolate that contained a love potion which made you fall in 'love' with the first person you saw- was empty on the floor behind Sirius. Roman grabbed the shears and put them on the ground next to her, then looked at Sirius. "Did you eat those, Sirius?" she asked, pointing at the box, and he nodded before his face fell. "Did you want some?" he asked. "I'm so sorry, Roman, please forgive me-"

"I'm not mad," she said, smiling sweetly at him. At least now she knew that he wasn't really in love with her. It was just a strong infatuation, an obsession, not love. "I shouldn't have even brought them, I just grabbed anything I saw..." Roman said.

"Are you alright, love?" Sirius asked, leaning down to look into her face. Roman nodded and said, in a very clear voice, "People are looking for us." And then, hoping that playing along with his temporary obsession with her would make him understand, said, "People are trying to keep us apart."

Sirius grabbed her and hugged her tight, rocking her again, and said in a fierce voice, "Never, Roman, I'll never let them take you away from me. I love you. They'll never get in between us." He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and Roman started crying. "Oh, love..." he whispered, looking at her with pain-filled eyes. They were both on their knees now, facing each other, Sirius cradling Roman's face in his hands.

"I need you to do something for me, Sirius," Roman said, letting tears spill over her cheeks. "If you want us to stay together you have to do something for me, okay?" Sirius nodded and gently wiped a tear off her cheek. "Anything, love," he replied with a weak smile.

Roman held up the shears and said, "I need you to cut my hair off."

Sirius looked terrified.

"What?" he gasped. "I can't!" He grabbed a strand of it and twirled it around his finger, then leaned forward and pressed his entire face into the side of her neck. "I can't cut it off," he said into her hair, "it's so pretty... And it smells good."

Face still hidden from Sirius, Roman stayed very still, and then gave one, sharp sob. Sirius froze. Roman sobbed again, and then again, and she clapped her hands over her face and let the tears flow even harder. "No," Sirius cried, trying to comfort Roman, who was shying away from him, "no, don't cry, please don't..."

"You don't love me enough to cut my hair off!" Roman cried, and Sirius stopped again. "Yes, I do," he said hastily, picking up the shears. "I do love you. I love you more than anyone else does. Do you believe me?" Roman looked up at him through red eyes, and then she hesitantly nodded. But then she worried about how it would look and said, "Don't mess up though, okay? Make it nice and even."

Sirius nodded.

Roman sat on the cave floor and turned around, and Sirius stood on his knees behind her. Sirius grabbed all her hair, pushed it off one shoulder, and then leaned down and pressed his lips to the place where her neck and shoulder met. Roman closed her eyes, trying to look like she was enjoying it. _Acting_, she reminded herself, _I'm acting_. Finally he pulled away and shifted her hair so that it was falling down her back again.

"Are you sure, love?" Sirius asked anxiously, and Roman sighed. It had taken a very long time to grow her hair this long- she had taken vitamins and everything. But then again, she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in Azkaban, so she reached up and made her part so that the line was as far over as her left eye, with most of the hair on the right side and then she nodded. "Yes," she said.

"How much do you want off?" he asked, and Roman paused. With a hard swallow she said, "A little below my jaw."

Apparently with the word 'jaw' Sirius felt it necessary to kiss that part of her body, so when he was through nuzzling her, he made the first cut. Roman held her breath, hoping that she wouldn't mess it up by moving, and Sirius gently laid the strip of hair on the cave floor. She couldn't bring herself to look.

Sirius slowly made another cut and asked quietly, "Are you alright, love?" Roman nodded, and he continued cutting. "I don't want any bangs," she replied when he asked, and he made one last cut. With a horrible snipping sound, the last of Roman's hair fell away and she reached up to touch it. There was a lot less there than she was used to, and felt like crying all over again. "Did I do alright?" Sirius asked anxiously, and Roman nodded. She turned around to face him and he smiled, putting a hand on the base of her neck. "I think it looks nice, love," he said softly, and Roman smiled smally.

And then she looked over to the empty box of chocolate again and mumbled, "I wonder how long it'll take to wear off..." Sirius asked, "What?" and Roman shook her head. "Nothing, dear, nothing," she said.

Hoping that maybe some rest would make the potion wear off, and distract them from being hungry, Roman took Sirius's hand and asked, "Are you tired?" Sirius shrugged and replied, "If you are."

Roman nodded and then reached in the bag to grab the extra clothes she had bought. She laid them on the stone floor of the cave and Sirius laid down on it, patting his chest. "I can't have you sleeping on the floor, love," he said, as if it made all the sense in the world. She stalled for a moment by looking outside to make sure Buckbeak was still tied up (he was) and then turned around, where Sirius was watching her with an expression of adoration.

"At least it's not too cold," Sirius said, and Roman nodded in agreement, sitting down next to Sirius. "Watch it, I'm gonna make a fire," Roman said, and she pulled her wand out of her sock, cleared a place on the floor next to Sirius's legs and started the fire. It instantly warmed up the little stone space, and Roman sighed. Sirius sat up next to her and hugged her from behind. He kissed the part of her neck that her hair usually covered and then whispered in her ear, "I love you, Roman. Only you."

Roman had closed her eyes and put her hands on his, which were together under her ribs, getting ready to push him away, but then he had whispered in her ear and she shivered, the same as when Lupin had whispered to her. She didn't know which she liked more.

But then again, Remus hadn't been afflicted by any love potions when he told her he liked her. Sirius thought that Roman was his soulmate because Jason had slipped love potion in her chocolate. She thought she liked Remus quite a lot; in fact, she was willing to be with him even though he was a werewolf, which didn't matter to her except for the fact that it was probably dangerous and there was no cure, but she also like Sirius's attentions.

"Can I have a goodnight kiss, love?" Sirius mouthed against her neck. No sound had come out, but she knew what he had said anyway. She shivered again, thought of Remus, said in her head, _I'm acting,_ and then turned her head.

Sirius immedaitely took advantage of this angle and pushed his closed lips against hers once, quickly and with the slightest pressure, before going back for more. Roman closed her eyes and let him do what he wanted, which was running his tongue along her lips, barely moving inside her mouth, before he pulled back to take a breath and then rammed his mouth back onto hers, licking the insides of her teeth and the roof of her mouth over and over. And then, just as gently as it had started, Sirius put one more kiss on the corner of her closed mouth and slowly pulled her down, so that she was laying in the crook of his arm. "Get some sleep, love, and we'll eat in the morning," he said quietly.

Roman did not have any nightmares that night.

XOXOXO

Roman and Sirius lay on the cave floor, Sirius with his arms around Roman, sleeping soundly. Roman had a small smile on her face, and her mind was peacefully blank.

An owl hooted directly in Roman's face, and she started. The owl looked wrong, it was lopsided, not to mention the blinding-white light streaming in the cave behind it made it blurry. Roman gently pushed Sirius's arm off her and sat up. The fire had gone out in the night, and she could just barely see the top of Buckbeak's head outside the cave hole. Roman took the papers from the owl and looked at the newspaper first. "Sirius!" she half-shouted.

Sirius sat up and asked quickly, "What's wrong?" And then he gasped at the front page of the _Daily Prophet_. The entire front page, save for a one-inch box at the bottom for a caption, was plastered with pictures of Roman and Sirius, Sirius's being his mugshot from Azkaban and Roman's being the picture that Belle had been cut out of. The caption at the bottom read: _Hogwarts student taken hostage by mass murderer Sirius Black. Details on page 9._

Roman groaned and flipped through the pages of the paper. Not much else was in it except theories about Sirius and Roman, questions as to how they got away and the Minister apologizing profusely.

Roman handed Sirius the paper, who read it quietly behind her, and reached for the letters that had come with the paper. As usual, she read Belle's first. It said:

_What in the hell do you think you're doing? Do you realize that I saw you on the Muggle news the other day? Everyone's talking about Roman Michaels' look-alike! What's wrong with you? But at least you didn't give out your real name... Joy... _Lupin_, huh? Remus will be happy to hear that!_

_Just, stay hidden. They've removed the dementors from the school, which means that they're taking them somewhere else, and I don't imagine they're very happy. Keep a low profile, Miss Lupin._

_Everyone is going everywhere in pairs and looking around corners and using all kinds of ridiculous charms that are supposed to protect them from muderers... Ha. As if. My parents think it's funny that people think you could end up as a criminal. Again, ha. _

_Anyway, just wanted to write and say that you were on TV. This is not why you should be famous! Knock it off, and be more careful! Here's twenty more pounds, and you're lucky that this is a serious issue, because I'm working very hard on these chores. I haven't bought a new pair of shoes since you escaped!_

_Love you, and stay hidden! See you soon? Hi, Sirius!_

_Belle_

Roman rolled her eyes and set this letter aside. "Belle says hello," she told Sirius, and he hummed in response. Roman picked up the last letter, which she knew was from Remus. It looked especially long, and she half expected it to be a Howler, save for the fact that the parchment wasn't red. It said:

_Ramona Whitney Michaels, what the bloody hell is going through your head? Do you even realize what kind of trouble you are already in? Do you think going on the bloody television- yes, I was watching in a Muggle electronic shop- is going to help this at all? I thought you were smarter than this!_

_And as for Danger being your middle name, I don't care. I still am in shock that you would even put your friends through this, put me through this... I haven't slept since you left. Are you doing okay? I'm so worried..._

_Obviously, Sirius is not teaching you to be as well hidden as he was, so you staying out there is not going to work anymore. I'm looking around, I think if we find a flat in a Muggle town, we can sneak you in. The only thing is, people have already seen you. Sirius can turn into, what did you say it was? Sparkles? I quite like that. We always called him Padfoot in school. He can come as Sparkles and we can get you in some other way. Dumbledore convinced Snape not to go throwing my name out there, actually, he made him swear to it and did some sort of vow, so I'm not a suspect, which makes my suddenly wanting to buy a flat not all that suspicious. It may take some time, but I will get you back again. _

_I care for you, very much. I'm... sorry I forced myself on you that night. It was very wrong of me to do that, and I apologize. But I can't say I didn't enjoy it. And, if memory serves, you did say it was enjoyable? I hope so. I was the first person you ever kissed? You're right, I am proud of that. And I hope I can be the last. _

_I'm not saying we're going to rush into this, Roman, but I can't deny this any longer. I like you, very much. I'm poor, and old, and I don't have very much to offer you, but I need to be close to you. I've already lost you once, and once I get you back you're staying here, right next to me. I... I love you, Roman._

Roman stopped breathing here and stared at those words. He had said I love you. He had finally said it. She had hoped, for so long, that maybe he would, that he was only being proper, that she would finally get to be able to say it back... And now she could.

_I think of you every day, Roman. And Sirius. Please, take care of yourselves. If anything happened to you and I wasn't there to... protect you, I... I don't know. _

_If you really don't care, if it doesn't bother you that I that much older than you and poor and a... werewolf, then... I'm saying I _do _know what I want. You. Come back safely, and... if you'll have me... I love you._

_Stay off camera, you'll get your chance to be famous. I love you. Merlin, it's so good to be able to say that, to write that. I love you, Roman, and take care of yourself, Sirius. I'll let you know when I've got the flat issue sorted out. I love you. Write back soon. _

_PS, you can call me Remus._

_With all my love, _

_R_

Roman smiled down at the letter, looking at the words, heart swelling in her chest. She and Remus were going to be together. They were going to be together. He loved her.

She gave a little giggle and Sirius jumped, and for the first time that morning he looked at her properly.

"What happened to your hair?" he asked, sounding confused, and she turned around. "You cut it off, sweetheart," she said, and instead of saying, "Oh, yeah, it still looks okay," he raised his eyebrows and said incredulously, "Sweetheart?"

Roman frowned at him and put her letter down. "Wait, you don't- the potion wore off, didn't it?" She smiled and he frowned this time. "Potion?" he asked, and she nodded.

"We were starving-" she put a hand on her rumbling stomach and corrected with a frown, "we _are _starving, so I went into town, at which point I was caught on camera, to get some money, which we have, and you got so hungry while I was gone that you at some chocolate you found in my bag. The chocolate was given to me by Jason. He's obsessed with me and filled them with a potion that makes you fall in love with the first person you see, hoping I would eat one in front of him. I don't even know why I brought them, actually..."

Sirius nodded slowly, taking all this in, and then asked, nose wrinkled, "Did we...?"

"No," Roman said, shaking her head. "But you did kiss me."

His eyebrows raised to his hairline.

"And... and... you didn't...?"

"Didn't what?"

"Didn't... I don't know, hate it?"

"No, it was alright. I figured you had lots of practice from when you were in school." She smirked at him and he smiled back.

"Hungry," he said, and Roman stood up.

"Now that we've cut my hair, I can probably go to town now. It's pretty early anyway, I doubt there will be anyone in town. Oh, and by the way, Remus said he's working on getting us a flat so we can hide in comfort." Sirius asked, "Really?" and Roman nodded.

"Be back in a tick," she said, and stepped through the cave hole.

XOXOXO

Roman ran her fingers through her extremely short hair, using her other hand to push her cart. No one looked twice at her, except for the boy behind the counter in the general store, who shyly averted his eyes when she looked his way.

Roman filled the cart with the usual; things that wouldn't perish, that they could take with them. Ramen noodles, food in a can, lots of clean water, and boxed food. She also bought them each a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, two sticks of deodorant, and, embarassing as it was to get Sirius's, new underwear. She only guessed at his size, and hoped he would be okay with briefs. She giggled a bit at this.

Considering the time- the clock in the store said six AM- there was a lot of people there. They minded their own business, keeping their eyes on their own grocery lists, and didn't give Roman another look. She continued filling her cart, humming quietly to herself.

It was a bit comforting that she could walk around the store easily now that she didn't look like Roman, and her entire person seemed lighter that day, happier. She didn't have to play at happy-Roman now. Remus loved her. They were going to go into hiding and they'd be together.

Roman moved over to the food part of the store and looked around. There was a bakery against the far wall, and a bunch of chilled fruit in a cooler to her right. She had been keeping track of the prices of everything she bought, and after she paid for all this, she would still have about 200 pounds, so decided to treat Sirius. She pushed her cart over to the bakery section, carefully keeping her face away from the man kneading dough, and opened the glass door. Immediately the scent of fresh-baked bread hit her in the face, and saliva pooled in her mouth. Roman grabbed two loaves off the shelf, put them in the cart, and then walked over to the fruit. She grabbed a bag of green grapes, ate a few out of the bag, then moved to the checkout to pay. She waited in line behind a few people, humming, and while she waited she grabbed a pack of gum. Apple flavor.

When it was Roman's turn to check out she smiled pleasantly at the cashier, who turned red, and put her items on the counter. She looked around while he fumbled with her items, and her heart stopped at what she saw.

To anyone else, it would have looked normal, but she could pick him out from the rest of the people just coming in the store. He was an Auror, from the Ministry of Magic, and a rather tall, broad one at that. She saw how he walked with his hand over his wand, which was in a pocket inside his jacket, sharp eyes looking around. Roman looked away, thankful that he was at least alone. He walked directly past her and prowled by the magazines. The boy asked her for her money and she gave it to him, without worrying about change. He looked shocked at the tip, but she only picked up her bags and rushed from the store.

Roman walked all the way out of the town before dashing into the woods, bags weighing her arms down. She threw everything into the cave and jumped in, ignoring Sirius, who was sitting outside, stroking Buckbeak.

"What happened?" he asked, bracing his hands on the entrance to the small pocket. Roman was shoving the clothes and shears into the bag, along with everything they had just bought. "Eat something, and then we have to go. There was an Auror in the store."

Roman shoved a piece of the warm bread in her mouth, shrunk the rest of the food down, and then moved outside with Sirius and Buckbeak.

"Got everything?" Sirius asked, digging through the bag. He emerged with a box of chicken-flavored crackers and the other loaf of bread, biting into it. Roman nodded and threw the bag over Buckbeak's back, who also seemed to know that it was time to leave. Sirius helped her up on his back once more, and quickly grabbed the rope around Buckbeak's neck.

"Do you think it's cloudy enough?" Sirius asked anxiously, and Roman shook her head. Sirius could feel her shaking. "Doesn't matter," she said, digging in the bag. She popped a grape in her mouth and said, "We have to leave now."

Sirius nodded and patted Buckbeak's flanks before digging his heels into them. Buckbeak took off and they kept low to the trees, hoping not to be noticed. There weren't any buildings that went up high enough to spot them and they didn't fly over any towns. "We need to find out where we are," Roman murmured, and Sirius looked around. He saw a large body of water and a few cottages, but nothing to indicate where they were. The further they kept going, the more Roman seemed to lose her nerve. She leaned forward and rested her forehead on Buckbeak's neck, whispering furiously to herself.

"We could've been caught," she moaned, but Sirius kept quiet. "We've could've been caught."

"Did Remus give you an address?" Sirius asked after a while, and Roman shook her head. "No, he didn't," she said miserably, and for the rest of the time she looked impulsively over her shoulder, as if they were being followed.

**Did I do alright with the suspense and junk? I must say I do love writing the letters... I'm not sure why. Review beauties!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, wow, it's been a long time since I updated. Wow. I could give you excuses, but... They're kind of... bad. I've been having a rough time. My sister has been having problems, as well as my mother, so... It's been stressful around here. Anyway, this is angsty and short and probably rather disappointing to those of you who still read, but... You know.  
I didn't choose the thug life, the thug life chose me.  
Oh, and I own none of this except Roman and Belle, and I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Sirius refused to land Buckbeak until he was sure they were in some sort of wizarding community. They found one, a very small one, very close to the ocean. It was seperated from the rest of society by an impenetrable forest, and the waves in the ocean were so rough that no boat could survive on the water. He landed in the woods with a little difficulty, tied Buckbeak to a tree, and transformed into Sparkles. Roman got in the bag, pulled on a pair of jeans, put a piece of gum in her mouth, and they set off for the small village.

The first and only thing they wanted, as Roman had just stocked up on food, was to find a post office. After a lot of ducking and dodging and scouting around, they found a small post office tucked in between an apothecary and a tavern. Sparkles paced outside the door while Roman ducked inside. She bought a piece of parchment, a quill, some ink, and sat down at a small table in the far corner, keeping her face down.

She frowned at the scrubbed wooden table as a wizard passed particularly close to her, talking loudly to someone across the shop. She waited for him to go away before starting on her letter to Remus.

_I'm really scared. There was an Auror in the town we were in today. He didn't notice me, but it was very close. I don't want to go to Azkaban before I get to see you. I love you._

_I've cut my hair off and changed my name, so I'm not as likely to be noticed. I can't do this anymore. I need you to get that flat now. We've moved locations again, so send an address and once we figure out where we are I can get us there in a day. We've got enough money for maybe three more days. Do you have to buy a place? Isn't there somewhere we can go for free?_

_I love you very much, Remus. Please, hurry back with your reply and we'll come straight to you. Sirius is getting worried too. I love you with everything I have. _

_Roman_

Roman had to fight very hard to resist the urge to start sobbing right there at the thought of never seeing Remus again. She clenched the quill very hard in her hand and moved over to the owls on the far wall. They were color coded based on how fast you needed your delivery taken to the other person. Roman chose the fastest owl they had and tied the letter to it, then paid for everything she used with her face down.

"Let's go," she said to Sparkles, who followed her back toward where they had kept Buckbeak. Even before they got into the thickly-wooded forest, it started pouring rain. Roman used this to hide the fact that she was crying, and if Sparkles noticed he didn't show it. Buckbeak was glaring at them as they approached, and after a hasty bow he allowed Roman to sit down next to him. Sirius, still in dog form, curled up next to Roman, and most of his fur kept her dry. Roman stared up through the ridiculously thick tree branches, hoping to see an owl flying toward her with a letter clutched in its talons. She closed her eyes against the rain, buried her face in Sirius's fur, and fell asleep.

XOXOXO

_Roman lay in her bed, still awake. She could hear Natalie in the living room down the hall, talking with her friend who had come over from school. The TV was playing, as well; they were watching a movie, a comedy by the sound of it. Roman had gone to bed even though she wasn't tired because she didn't want to be around cheery people. She knew she would bring down the mood, and had therefore showered and gone to her room. _

_Father was, as always, in the den with his computer, looking up facts and statistics about cancer. His hair was gray and messy, and his eyes were bloodshot and tired, but he didn't go to bed until 3 and 4 in the morning. _

_Roman lay for a long time, hands folded on her stomach, listening to the muffled sounds of the TV through her wall, glaring up at the strange shadows on the ceiling. When would the movie end? When would they finally go to sleep?_

_Dad had encouraged the both of them to have friends over, to go places and be social, because in his opinion worrying about Mum, who was currently unconsious in the hospital, was his job. Natalie leapt on the opportunity to invite people over to their rather large house, showing off the velvet couches and huge pool that their mother's inheritance had bought. Roman didn't have any friends outside Hogwarts, however, so it was only Natalie who had friends over. This meant that Roman had much too much free time on her hands, and right now that free time meant listening to her sister have fun. _

_She tried to close her ears to the outrageous laughing of Natalie and Becca- didn't they know she was sleeping?- and closed her eyes firmly, hoping that by doing so she would fall asleep more quickly. It didn't work like she had hoped, so she flipped over so that her back was to the door and jammed a pillow over her head. Finally, there was silence. _

_Roman's muscles slowly started to unclench and she moved her hand off the pillow, so that there was no pressure keeping it on her head. Roman sighed once. She was almost asleep, she was at that point where your body was so light and your breathing evens out, and the sound of people laughing- or was it yelling?- didn't even affect her, and Roman fell-_

_Out of her bed. _

_"Roman!" Natalie shouted, tugging on her arm even though she was laying on the floor, blinking wildly. "What?" Roman tried to ask, but Natalie only kept yelling and her friend Becca stood in the doorway, hands over her mouth, both of them in tank tops and pajamas with their hair pulled up. This wasn't like Natalie. She was normally so laid back. She tugged Roman to her feet and shouted, tears streaming down her pale cheeks, "We have to go, Roman! We have to leave! Wake _up_!"_

_"What happened?" Roman asked again, but she might as well have been whispering because Natalie didn't even register that she'd said something, didn't even slow down in her actions. She moved to the dresser, threw a bunch of articles of clothing at Roman, shouting, "Get dressed, we have to leave! WAKE UP!"_

_Roman picked up a pair of the pants on the floor and hopped after Natalie and Becca, who were both hysterical, jamming her legs in the pants. There, in the living room lit by the TV, she found Dad, tears streaming down his face, as well. _

_"What's happening?" Roman demanded, tired of getting no responses. Father only stood there, his tired eyes more pronounced than ever and hand clutching at his chest. _

_"Mum!" Natalie shouted, and came over, tapping Roman on the cheek. Roman felt like her movements weren't fast enough, like everyone else was running and she was barely at a walk... Like this wasn't even really happening..._

"WAKE UP!"

Roman sat up and hit her forehead off Sirius's, as he had been leaning directly over her. He didn't even react to the impact and turned away, once more stuffing everything they owned into the small duffel bag, having shrunk it with Roman's wand. Roman looked quickly around her- they were still in the woods, although she wasn't cuddled up next to Sirius anymore- and it was still raining.

"What's happening?" Roman asked, for what felt like the thousandth time that hour. Sirius said quickly, face grim, "More Aurors in town today. I went as a dog, scouting around, and they were there. I think they've found our trail. I would Apparate us, but I'm afraid we would end up in a crowded place, plus we can't leave Buckbeak. Come on, we're leaving."

Roman stood up, still blinking the sleep from her eyes, and heaved her dirty, wet self onto Buckbeak's back. Sirius handed Roman her wand and then they were off, hidden well by the extremely dense clouds.

As Roman had just woken up, the ride didn't seem very long, or real. She was still having trouble figuring out if she was awake, so she asked Sirius. "Am I awake?" Roman mumbled, unconciously leaning back into his chest. He carefully turned Buckbeak a little to the left and said, "Yes."

The rest of the short- well, short for Roman, anyway- ride was silent, the only time either of them said anything being when Sirius asked Roman for her wand. She handed it to him from where it had been tucked into her knee sock, and he mumbled, "Point me." Roman sighed and Sirius draped some kind of fabric over her, and despite Buckbeak's buffeting wing movements, Roman fell asleep once more.

When she woke up, feeling much better than before, she was laying on the ground again. She was beginning to miss laying in a bed, even if she never actually slept. With a groan she sat up, and felt the ground shift weirdly underneath her. She grabbed at it with her fingers, and it fell through them. Sand. They were on a beach.

"You okay?" Sirius hissed, and Roman opened her eyes even wider, searching around in the dark for him. How he had done so well at finding so many caves and rock structures, she didn't know, but it appeared that once more they were sheltered in a cave on a beach. This one was much bigger than the previous cave, although it still wasn't very big. Water dripped from stalactites hanging from the ceiling, causing the sand directly underneath it to clump together.

"Fine," Roman hissed back, putting a hand over her head before she sat up to make sure she didn't hit her head off a low place in the ceiling. Sirius seemed to be, as far as Roman could tell in the extreme darkness, crouching at the other end of the cave. "Lumos," he whispered, and when the end of her wand lit up, Roman was appalled to see that he was smiling.

"What could you possibly be smiling about?" she asked, and he smiled wider.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked.

"Do _you_?" Roman countered.

Sirius smiled even wider, and with a flick of Roman's wand he had started a fire with bluebell flames in a pit to the left. "Mexico," Sirius said, "it's warm here."

"Ooh, Mexicans are attractive," Roman said without thinking about it first. Sirius rolled his eyes and handed her the wand.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked, scooting closer to the fire. Sirius shrugged, yawning himself. "Oh, five hours? You fell asleep on Buckbeak, too. Believe me, it was hard getting you off there. I would've had to drag you through the sand if you were any heavier." He snorted.

"Did you just call me _fat_?" Roman asked, glaring in the dim light.

"No, not fat," Sirius said simply, bringing the grapes out of the duffel bag. "Sturdy. There's a difference. Sturdy is good." Roman narrowed her eyes further but didn't say anything more. He threw a grape at her.

"How much money do we have left?" Roman asked, and Sirius reached in the bag and handed her the rest of the notes that were left. Roman counted through it- about a hundred pounds. "How do we get out of here?" she asked him, and Sirius stopped. "You're not leaving?" Sirius asked in mild shock.

Roman frowned up at him. "Why wouldn't I?" she asked, and when she turned around she saw that there was a slim sliver of light, marking the low exit. She turned and crawled toward it.

"Something I've got to get in town," she explained, and then froze. "Wait, is there a town?" she asked. Sirius replied tiredly, "Yeah, right down the beach." He sighed.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, continuing toward the cave mouth. "Nothing," he replied grumpily, and Roman rolled her eyes. She stuck her head out of the cave, looked around, and saw that there were no people in sight, although she could hear them. As quickly as she could, Roman slid out of the cave, brushed the sand off her clothes, and reached up to twist her hair in a bun. She only grabbed air, however, and sighed. She had cut it off.

In her perherphial vision, Roman saw a shaggy black dog come out of the cave behind her and it was her who sighed this time, but didn't yell. A few people had just come onto the beach in swimming trunks. Sirius, Sparkles, actually, walked closer to her side, and the boys didn't come closer.

Behind them there was an ocean, and then in front of them there was a long, run-down boardwalk. A few shops were open. Roman walked into the nearest one; there was a faded sign above it that read GONZALEZ GENERAL

"Wait a second," Roman mumbled to Sirius before she pushed the door open, and he looked up at her. "They won't take British money, will they?"

Sparkles whined.

Roman shrugged and walked in, and saw that around the cluttered shelves and shell strings hanging from the ceiling that there was only one boy working there. He was sitting on a wooden stool with his sandaled feet on the counter, reading a car magazine. He was rather pale for living in Mexico, but Roman didn't say anything.

"Hi," she said sweetly, and he looked up. He had sunglasses pushed back in his curly blond hair. He smiled at her and closed his magazine. And then he saw Sparkles.

"Wow," he said, pointing, "yours?"

Roman smiled and nodded scratching behind Sparkles' ears. "Her name is Sparkles," Roman said, and the guy came out from behind the counter to kneel beside Sirius. Sparkles growled low in her throat.

"Stop it," Roman chided, nudging Sirius in the side. "You can pet her, she doesn't bite," Roman said.

"I like your accent," the boy said, standing back up. "England?"

Roman nodded vaguely. "You don't look Mexican," she said, and he nodded. "I'm from Texas, but I came here because my dad got remarried. I just work here to get away from them."

Roman nodded and he returned to his stool behind the counter. "What can I do for you?" he asked, and Roman asked, "Do you, uh, have craft wire?" The boy looked away for a moment, and then reached under his counter. He came back with a clear box of silver wire and set it on the counter. "And seed beads?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. They probably weren't as likely to have that. The boy stood up and said, "Yeah, I should have some. Hold on a sec."

"Sec?" Roman quietly asked Sparkles while the boy disappeared. Once more, he laid a clear plastic box full of multicolored seed beads on the counter and Roman smiled. "Okay, so..."

She reached in her pocket and came out with her money, but then she froze. Actress-Roman hadn't had a go in a while.

"Oh, no," she moaned quietly, and looked up at the boy, money still in her hands. "I don't have the right currency."

The boy's eyes widened and he held his hand out. "Can I look at that?" he asked, and Roman laid the notes on the counter. He spread them out and said, "This is cool. What's the equivalent of a five?"

Roman pointed.

The boy scooped up the note and put it in his pocket. "That'll do." He rubbed the back of his neck. "You can just take that stuff... I sorta collect foreign money, so..." Roman simpered and asked, "Are you sure?"

The boy nodded eagerly.

Roman picked up her items and slowly turned away from the counter. "Are you sure you won't get in trouble?" Roman asked, and he nodded. "Yeah. On the house," he said, and Sparkles followed Roman out of the building.

They speedwalked back to the cave entrance, and once they were sure no one was watching Roman crawled inside, followed by Sparkles.

As soon as they were back in their original spots Sirius turned back into a human and asked, "What did you need that rubbish for?"

"Not rubbish," Roman said excitedly, tearing open both boxes. "Lumos!" she shouted in excitment and then beckoned Sirius forward. "I need you to look in my mouth," she said, bending the craft wire into a C shape. "Why?" Sirius asked, taking the lit-up wand. Roman slid a few of the beads onto the wire and said, "It's a Muggle thing. Braces. They make your teeth straight." She continued fiddling with her wire while Sirius frowned at her. She took his silence as confusion and said, "So I won't look like me?"

"Ah," Sirius said.

"Okay," Roman squealed after another long moment. She curled up the ends of the wire to hook around her back teeth and kept the beads in place. "Just do a regular Sticking Charm on the beads, not a Permanent one," Roman said, and stuck the wire in her mouth. Sirius held the wand tip by her chin and directed her fingers. She tightened the hooks around the back of her teeth, moved the eight beads over each front tooth, and then Sirius used a Sticking Charm to stick them to the wire, not her teeth, so that they wouldn't slide all over the place. When it was done, Sirius smiled. "Good," he said.

Roman closed her mouth and ran her tongue over the beads. It felt alien in her mouth but she knew it was necessary. She sighed, reaching her hand up to feel the rough strands of her shorn-off hair, and then poked at her fake braces with her tongue again. She pursed her lips.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said softly, and Roman looked up at him. Neither of them said anything; each of them just stared at the other, Roman's chin trembling. She looked down after minutes, and then she sniffled. "Did we get any letters?" Roman asked, sniffling again. Sirius shook his head.

For the rest of the day, Roman sat against the cave wall, staring at the blue flames in the pit.


End file.
